United Airlines has
            unveiled a revamped Web site that offers customers
            faster access to the most popular features for researching
            and booking travel with over 500 airlines. The new
            design offers improved navigation to make it easier to use
            for both new and return visitors to ual.com.
“Our goal was to improve navigation and ease of use and
            create the most customer-friendly environment possible
            by building on the broad functionality we already offered
            on our ual.com site,” said Rick Collins, Director of
            Internet Marketing for United Airlines.
Created with extensive customer input gathered during a
            series of focus groups, the new site design includes
            quick-search features that make it possible to research
            fares and schedules, check up-to-the-minute flight
            information, and access Mileage Plus® account
            information directly from the home page. The site’s new
            streamlined navigation reduces the number of clicks
            required to accomplish the most popular tasks.
All functions have also been reorganized into four major
            categories on the home page to make it easy to find the
            desired page or section. Consumers can consult the
            “Planning Travel” category to view schedules and
            compare fares on 500 airlines,

            purchase tickets, request upgrades and redeem award
            miles for free travel; “Travel Support” section to review
            baggage guidelines, airport maps, onboard entertainment
            and other service information; “Mileage Plus” to check
            frequent flyer account status and current bonus mile
            promotions; and “About United” for corporate
            information. Users can either click on the desired
            category or link directly to any of 29 subcategories to
            save steps.

Every page has been redesigned for a cleaner look,
            faster navigation and maximum functionality. For
            example, a new interactive calendar pops up during the
            booking process to assist customers in choosing travel
            dates.

The redesigned site has already been recognized by
            Gomez Advisors, an independent research group, as one
            of the leading travel sites on the Web and the #1 entry in
            their on-site resources category.
Over 4% of all United Airlines tickets are currently
            issued online through ual.com and other online booking
            services. That figure is expected to surge to at least 20%
            by 2003 as more consumers turn to the Web to conduct
            their business. United reached a milestone earlier this
            month when daily ticket sales on ual.com exceeded $2
            million.
ual.com makes it easy for consumers to book
            reservations with over 500 airlines, 45 car rental
            companies and 30,000 hotels worldwide. It also features
            last-minute and seasonal discount E-Fares® on United,
            United Shuttle?’ and United Express?’ flights for online
            customers, with the option to enroll in a subscription
            service that delivers each week’s E-Fares® directly to
            customers via e-mail. United’s frequent flyers also can
            use the site to track Mileage Plus account information,
            request upgrades and redeem miles for award travel
            online.
In addition to its Web site, United has launched a variety
            of other initiatives to maximize its Internet presence.
            These include
CollegeTravelNetwork.com, the first and only online
            service tailored from the ground up to address the
            particular travel requirements of college students;
            BuyTravel.com, a joint venture between United and
            BUY.COM that is scheduled to debut early this year;
            and a partnership with Delta Air Lines, Northwest
            Airlines and Continental Airlines that will create the first
            multi-airline travel portal of its kind.
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