Japanese version of round-the-world on-line booking tool added

oneworld^®, the world's premier airline alliance, has launched a Japanese version of its on-line booking tool making it easier than ever for Japanese speakers to plan and pay for round-the-world trips using the market leading oneworld Explorer fare.

oneworld was the first in the travel industry to sell any multi-airline round-the-world fare through the internet when it launched its original on-line booking facility for oneworld Explorer.  That was also the first time any of the global airline groupings had sold any of their alliance fares direct via the web.

The addition of the Japanese language facility follows Japan Airlines' reaffirmation of its oneworld membership earlier this year and last month's co-location of all the alliance's on-line airlines at Tokyo Narita and the opening of Tokyo Haneda to scheduled international flights, with oneworld offering a wider international network than any other alliance and the biggest domestic operation there.

With a Spanish version already added, oneworld now offers the on-line booking facility in three languages - a wider choice than any another alliance.

Since the original English version of the on-line booking tool was launched, it has proven even more popular than anticipated, taking substantially more bookings than expected.

The Japanese on-line booking tool is available through oneworld.com - at http://ja.oneworld.com/enja/ - with links from all oneworld member airlines' own websites too.

oneworld Explorer is the world's most popular multi-airline round-the-world ticket, enabling passengers to travel right around the globe using the flights of any of oneworld's member airline, who together, including the alliance's members elect, serve some 900 destinations in approaching 150 countries. 

The system has a number of special features to make it as simple as possible for customers to plan oneworld Explorer round-the-world trips. 

As they build their itinerary - simply by clicking on destinations displayed on the alliance's interactive map - the system automatically

checks availability and displays only flights that have seats available for each route and date selected.  It also validates that the itinerary meets all the fare's rules and conditions - and then provides an instant price for the trip. 

Once customers have finalised their itinerary - which can be of up to 16 sectors - they can pay on-line using a credit card and print out all the details.  The e-tickets for the entire trip are then sent to the customer by email.  

Unlike other round-the-world fares, oneworld Explorer's price is based on the number of continents visited (three to six), not the mileage flown, making planning and pricing journeys much more simple and flexible.  It covers flights worldwide by all oneworld member and affiliate airlines. 

oneworld Explorer can be booked for travel in Economy, Premium Economy (where available), Business or even First Class, and earn frequent flyer programme mileage awards and tier status points.  Prices from Japan start at JPY335,000, excluding taxes, fees and charges.

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Mexicana, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, and around 20 affiliates including American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Russia's S7 Airlines will join the alliance on 15 de noviembre de 2010 with Air Berlin and India's Kingfisher Airlines now members elect.  Between them, these airlines:

• Serve almost 900 airports in nearly 150 countries, with some 9​500 daily departures.
• Offer more than 550 airport lounges for premium customers.
• Carry 340 million passengers a year.
• Operate a combined fleet of almost 2​500 aircraft.
• Generate around US$90 billion annual revenues in total.

oneworld enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own.  These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges.   oneworld also offers more alliance fares than any of its competitors. 

oneworld was named the World's Best Alliance in the 2010 World Airline Awards and World's Leading Alliance in the 2010 World Travel Awards.   It is the only winner of the latter award since it was introduced in 2003.