PRNewswire-FirstCall ST. PAUL, Minn. Oct. 20 :
Northwest Airlines today announced that its nwa.com Web site outperformed
all other U.S. airline sites in the Summer 2003 Online Customer Respect
Study of Airline, Travel and Hotel/Resort/Casino firms that rank among the
largest 1,000 companies in the United States.

On a ten-point scale with ten being the best, Northwest`s nwa.com site
received an overall Customer Respect Index (CRI) of 9.1, the highest
ranking in the airline category and well ahead of the airline industry
average of 7.4.

“We are honored that nwa.com`s customer service, convenient functionality
and overall ease of use have earned the recognition of the Customer
Respect Group,” said Al Lenza, vice president of distribution and
e-commerce at Northwest Airlines. “From the most developed Internet-based
self-service check-in program to proactive flight notification, nwa.com is
yet another reason customers who choose Northwest are flying smart.”

The Customer Respect Group is an international research and consulting
firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online. The
study, in its second year, brings objective measure to the analysis of
corporate performance from an online customer`s point of view and involves
evaluations of more than 1,000 Web sites from a variety of industries. It
assigns a Customer Respect Index (CRI) to each company based on 25
different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer
experience, including the areas of privacy (respects customer privacy),
principles (values and respects customer data), attitude (customer focus
of site), transparency (open and honest policies), simplicity (ease of
navigation), and responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to
inquiries).
“Northwest received high scores for the speed and quality of its responses
to inquiries submitted online, in addition to providing a well organized
and easy to navigate site,” said Thorsten Ganz, vice president of
research, The Customer Respect Group. “The company clearly understands the
importance of its online channel as it relates to the overall customer
experience.”
Northwest`s nwa.com Web site is backed up with customer support staff
available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, able to respond through
e- mail, I-mail and by telephone to questions and help customers through
transactions.

Additional information on the Customer Respect Group`s study is available
at http://www.customerrespect.com/ .

In August, Northwest introduced a re-designed version of nwa.com making
the most extensive design, navigation and functionality changes since its
launch in 1996.
Visitors to the simplified nwa.com benefit from an array of improvements,
including better organization and ease of use, improved layout and visual
design, increased site efficiency and performance, streamlined paths to
functionality, a more personalized experience and direct access to key
information.
Also at nwa.com, customers with e-tickets can change their reservations,
check-in for their domestic or international flight—including their
return trip up to 36 hours in advance—and apply for ticket refunds.

Northwest Airlines is the world`s fourth largest airline with hubs at
Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and
approximately 1,500 daily departures. With its travel partners, Northwest
serves nearly 750 cities in almost 120 countries on six continents. In
2002, consumers from throughout the world recognized Northwest`s efforts
to make travel easier. A 2002 J.D. Power and Associates study ranked
airports at Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul, home to Northwest`s two
largest hubs, tied for second place among large domestic airports in
overall customer satisfaction. Readers of TTG Asia and TTG China named
Northwest “Best North American airline.”
For more information pertaining to Northwest, media inquiries can be
directed to Northwest Media Relations at (612) 726-2331 or to Northwest`s
Web site at http://www.nwa.com/ .
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