Northwest Airlines said today that it was pleased with ZDNet’s usability review of airline web sites that rated Northwest Airlines’ nwa.com tops among airline sites. The ZDNet recognition is the latest in a series of awards received by nwa.com.

“We listened to our customers who told us they wanted a site that’s fast and easy to use,” said Al Lenza, Northwest vice president - distribution planning. “Our customers have told us they like what they see and we’re pleased to that ZDNet and the experts at WebCriteria agree.”

In their January 13th article “Where to Click for Low-Hassle Plane Tickets,” on-line journalists Neil Strother of ZDNet AnchorDesk and Kelly Rupp of WebCriteria used a set of tests to “measure just how easy (or hard!) it is to navigate a site. In our exclusive report, here’s what they found: Northwest Airlines rises to the top…”

In addition to their overall findings, the authors praised several specific features of the Northwest web site:

“Kudos to Northwest for a truly well-designed site to welcome weary travelers,” Rupp wrote. “A straightforward, easily-navigated home page awaits visitors at nwa.com. Fast Trip Finder, Flight and Gate Status, WorldPerks Mileage Balance and Current Promotions sections are prominently displayed and intuitive to first-time users.

“A low-graphics link takes you (quickly!) to a text-based site where further tips are offered to Palm VII and WebTV users to set “fonts to small” for best viewing. Hey, these guys really care.”

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