It’s great when cost savings AND making things easier become the same thing. That is, it is somewhat counter
intuitive that the effort by airlines to make things more effcient and user-friendly will save them money. Usually
cost-cutting results in worse service rather than better. But such are the virtues of the Web that when airlines make
an investment in the Intenet to save money, YOU get positive results. And so it goes.
For example, American Airlines, the largest U.S. carrier, which draws upward of a million visitors a day, says that
its revnue is up significantly due to its online ticket sales, and that and it is now providing all sorts of
last-minute vacation packages as well as self-service kiosks, and providing standby confirmation status and paying for
extra baggage via the Web. Very nice. And it can’t happen to quickly.