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US Airways to Add 85 E-Ticket Kiosks by Summer

US Airways
is reducing airport processing time for customers by installing more timesaving electronic ticketing kiosks at U.S. airports. The company plans to add kiosks at 25 more locations and will have 251 kiosks at 48 airports operating by early summer.


US Airways?f kiosks offer customers an ability to check in electronically, bypassing traditional ticket counter lines. Using the touch-screen system, customers traveling domestically can purchase one-way tickets, obtain boarding passes, select seats or check bags by using a credit card or Dividend Miles membership card to activate the system. The kiosk also provides customers with information about the status of their flight.


“More of our passengers are using these kiosks instead of waiting in line for paper tickets, and by using a kiosk, processing time can be reduced significantly,” said Alan W. Crellin,
US Airways executive vice president of operations.


An average kiosk transaction, where a customer purchases a ticket and checks baggage, can be completed in about two and one-half minutes. If an electronically ticketed traveler is using the kiosk to obtain a boarding pass for an already-purchased ticket, the process can be completed in as little as 30 seconds. US Airways customer service representatives are available for kiosk assistance and baggage check.


“In cities where we have installed kiosks, 28 percent of our customers who travel using an electronic ticket use these kiosk machines,” said Crellin. “At Boston and LaGuardia, nearly 40 percent of all electronic ticket holders use the kiosks, currently the highest rate of usage on our system.” Approximately 78 percent of all passengers flying US Airways use an electronic ticket.

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For customers traveling on US Airways, US Airways Express and US Airways Shuttle, kiosks are located at the ticket counters. At Philadelphia, US Airways Express customers can choose from two kiosks in Terminal F, also at the ticket counter.


As an added incentive, Dividend Miles members
will earn 1,000 bonus miles the first time they use the kiosks to purchase tickets and check in for flights, or to just check in. Thereafter, members will receive 50 bonus miles each time they use the kiosks. This offer is valid for travel through Dec. 31, 2002, within the U.S., on US Airways, the US Airways Express carriers, or
US Airways Shuttle. Bonus Miles will appear in Dividend Miles account statements within three weeks from completion of travel.


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