UNITED AIRLINES INTRODUCES
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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