The scope and standard of airline-related material on the Internet varies dramatically. Some airlines offer sophisticated systems allowing passengers to plan, book and pay for their flights; others can muster little more than sketchy corporate information. Some sites contain real-time data; others have not been updated for weeks or even months. Most are quite easy to navigate through, although some confusing symbology remains.
Increasingly, airline sites are having to compete for business with the growing number of non-airline sites providing travel booking services. At the same time, airline executives can find a number of sources of industry information on the Net.
All Web sites contain basic information about their owners' companies, but there is often little of substance and repeat visits by the notoriously fickle Internet surfers are unlikely. Web sites start to become really useful - and popular - if they contain a great deal more information, some degree of interactivity, and frequent changes. A few airlines and aerospace companies are now beginning to tap into such benefits, but all are taking a different approach and there is a degree of experimentation throughout.
Most major airlines' Web sites now contain interactive schedule information; the would-be traveller keys in the desired flight routing and dates, and the system returns potential flight options. Most airlines only include their own flights, but Austrian Airlines includes its competitors automatically and KLM and Lufthansa allow an option to do so.
Very few airlines take bookings via the Web. British Midland and Alaska Air were the first to do so, and Delta Air Lines has now joined them with a 'Quick Flight' option for simple itineraries and a 'Flight Planner' for more complex trips.
American Airlines and Lufthansa offer on-line booking only for members of their frequent flyer programmes. Air UK offers a booking facility only for flights departing from London/Stansted. Continental and Southwest advertise on-line booking, but at press time neither system was operational. Japan Air Lines says it offers domestic flight bookings, but this is not apparent on the carrier's English language site.
Several carriers have moved part-way towards providing a booking capability. For example, Northwest, KLM and Austrian Airlines can show whether seats are available in each class on a given flight; the Austrian site even shows if discount seats are available. United advertises an availability facility, but it was not operational when Airline Business attempted to use it. Southwest can provide a fare quotation, as can Northwest, but the latter's was not functioning. All Nippon Airways provides a table of standard fares, while USAir only quotes special fares. Icelandair allows customers to check availability and fares, and book a seat, but they have to do so by e-mail. Several carriers use the Internet to promote discount fares (see next article).
A few US majors have taken the lead in finding other innovative uses for their Web sites. Members of the American and Northwest FFPs can check the status of their accounts via the Web, and Delta, Continental and America West offer on-line enrolment to their programmes. American, United, Delta and Northwest can provide a real-time status report on the progress of an individual flight, to help people meeting arriving flights. Icelandair and Olympic Airways do the same, but in a less sophisticated way.
Singapore Airlines allows First and Raffles Class passengers leaving Singapore to check in by e-mail, and Swissair passengers can reconfirm their North American reservations via the carrier's Web site. Federal Express and UPS provide real-time tracking of freight or package shipments through their Web sites, and Traxon's site provides this facility for freight shipments on Air Canada, Air France, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Lufthansa.
Some airlines allow software to be downloaded from their Web sites. For example, the United Connection software allows users to make on-line reservations for a large number of airlines, hotels and car rental companies. Visitors to the Qantas site can download the Qantim itinerary manager, and SAS will download its timetable. Fedex's site contains downloadable shipment tracking software.
Despite all this activity, airlines risk being left behind in the race for Internet surfers' loyalty because a growing number of independent Web sites now offer travel services that are not tied to a particular carrier. Expedia, ITN, PCTravel and Sabre's Travelocity provide on-line booking with virtually any airline or travel provider. TravelWeb only offers hotel bookings but says flights will follow. Several sites, such as AESU Travel, Flifo and Travel Information Services (Tiss), advertise discount fares. 'TheTrip.com' taps into the US air traffic control system to provide the current position, height and speed of any aircraft in US airspace. MaxMiles and Lloyd's Travel offer software for tracking FFP miles.Reed Traveler Net includes comprehensive travel information and links to travel related sites, including airlines. There is even an Electronic Travel Auction.
Many airports provide little more than airport maps on their Web sites. However, some offer value-added services. Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Portland provide real-time information on arrivals and departures, and BAA's site allows users to search for the status of flights due to arrive at six of its airports. Singapore has an international flight connection service which builds itineraries around a connection at Changi. Nashville plays you music while you watch.
For airline managers and consultants seeking data, the top sites are the US Securities and Exchange Commission, whose free Edgar database includes all SEC financial filings, and the National Transportation Safety Board, which posts all its accident reports since 1983 on the Web. The Airports Council International and Air Transport Action Group are among other sites which contain useful information. Aviation Internet Resources provides links to hundreds of aviation sites. Moody's AirlineNet, a subscription services, contains a myriad of Washington's aviation related regulatory filings. CIC Research conducts frequent-flyer surveys on the Net.
Using the Internet remains time-consuming and uncertain. Most Web designers include graphics which look pretty but take so long to download that the user has run out of patience long before the images have taken shape on the screen. All too often, surfers have to move through several introductory pages before they reach the data they require. The Internet is particularly slow during US business hours, and fast access - through the fastest possible modem or, ideally, a 'pipe' the user's own Web server - is essential.
The ability to check availability and take bookings, which requires a fast link into a large reservation system, is not yet widely available and represents a major technical challenge. This shows: many airlines' advertised systems cannot be reached regularly.
Shopping around on the Internet is very time-consuming and, very often, frustrating. Large-scale acceptance of the medium by the travelling public depends upon systems speeding up, which they will do. The broader problem is that passengers who like to shop around might be much better off going to an on-line travel agent rather than an individual supplier.
Each site is given a rating according to our overall impression of content, user-friendliness and style.
This list will be repeated; if your site is missing or your Web address changes, please e-mail the details to richard.whitaker@rbi.co.uk
Source: Airline Business
