United Airlines today announced
          that it has acquired the rights to two Internet addresses,
          making it more convenient than ever for customers to access
          United’s industry-leading Web site. Effective immediately,
          customers wishing to visit United online can now do so by
          typing www.united.com or www.unitedairlines.com, as well
          as the carrier’s original Internet address, www.ual.com.
“United.com will allow us to build on United’s powerful brand
          name, while at the same time provide online consumers with a
          more intuitive way to find us on the Internet,” said Scott Praven,
          Vice President of United’s E-Commerce Division. “We are also
          pleased to offer unitedairlines.com as an address, which
          customer research has shown is one of the most common
          addresses customers type when looking for United Airlines.”
The carrier also announced that beginning today, it would
          market its site in television and print advertisements, as well
          as in other marketing and communications materials, as
          www.united.com. The first print advertisement highlighting
          united.com appeared in today’s Wall Street Journal.
Praven was quick to note that the carrier would retain its
          original ual.com address for its many loyal customers saying,
          “For the millions of customers who have grown accustomed to
          accessing United’s Web site through ual.com, we will continue
          to make that address available to them. Today’s
          announcement means that there will be more ways than ever
          to access United’s site.”

Visitors to the united.com site topped 3.4 million in February.
          Web site sales at the carrier recently reached an all-time high
          of $2.7 million in one day, more than doubling the figure of just
          six months ago. Over 25% of United’s online users are
          Premier level or higher (they fly at least 25,000 miles a year) in
          United’s Mileage Plus® frequent flyer program, a figure the
          airline attributes to its robust online reservations system and
          attractive features for frequent fliers.
United Airlines’ Web site was awarded best airline Internet site
          honors in Gomez Advisors’ Spring Airline Scorecard. In their
          report, Gomez Advisors reported that several factors led to
          United capturing the first place ranking including outperforming
          the competition in the categories of on-site resources,
          customer relationship, business flyer and leisure flyer.
In addition, Peppers and Rogers Group, a leader in the
          one-to-one marketing field, has placed ual.com in the “top 25
          Web sites” for its customer interaction and customized
          experience. Peppers and Rogers reviewed over 400 Web sites
          from a broad range of industries, measuring 30 different online
          capabilities.
United.com gives consumers the ability to purchase travel with
          over 500 airlines, book reservations with 45 rental car
          companies and 30,000 hotels worldwide, take advantage of
          discount travel offered through weekly and seasonal E-Fares?’
          posted on the site, and register for the new flight paging
          service for digital notification of gate information, delays and
          cancellations on United Airlines-operated flights. In addition,
          United’s frequent flyers can use the site to track Mileage Plus
          account information, request upgrades and redeem miles for
          award travel online.
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