oneworld is first alliance to complete interline e-ticketing with links now in place between all partner airlines
22 de abril de 2005
oneworldTM is the first of the global airline alliances to put in place interline e-ticketing (IET) links between all members of the grouping. The final connection between the 28 pairs of partners has just been implemented - between Aer Lingus and LAN.
This means customers can travel with the convenience of just one electronic ticket throughout the combined network served by the alliance's eight member airlines - American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, and Finnair besides Aer Lingus and LAN - no matter how many transfers between these airlines are required along the way (see notes below). Together, they fly to some 600 destinations in 135 countries worldwide.
Interline e-ticketing offers passengers considerable advantages. It makes connections between flights by different airlines smoother, easier and more reliable, and reduces the time and hassle involved in rebooking from one carrier to another, should that be needed for any reason.
Customers have no traditional paper ticket to lose or risk having stolen, checking-in is quicker and smoother, and they have access to the speed and convenience of new automated features, like self-service or internet check-in, helping eliminate queues at airports.
e-tickets and interline e-ticketing also provide millions of dollars a year in savings for the airlines, with IATA, the world airline association, estimating that electronic tickets cut costs by around US$9 for each paper ticket eliminated. On that basis, with more than seven million passengers a year transferring between oneworld partners, the alliance's IET programme stands to save the eight member airlines some US$65 million a year.
With the number of passengers connecting between the alliance's carriers growing - by 12 per cent in 2004 - the financial contribution of IET will increase further.
oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch said: "oneworld was created to make travel to more places more easy for more people - and completion of interline e-ticketing links between all our member airlines is a significant landmark towards that goal. It makes travel throughout oneworld's unmatched worldwide network simpler and smoother for our customers - while also cutting costs considerably for our member airlines.
"Being the first alliance to extend this level of customer convenience between all our airlines is a reflection of oneworld's determination to offer our alliance customer service better than the competition and to reap the benefits that technology provides for both our customers and shareholders. It also underlines oneworld's ability to get things done faster and more efficiently by being a manageable-sized grouping of committed and high quality carriers."
American Airlines and Finnair set the alliance's IET programme rolling in May 2002 when they became the industry's first airlines in separate continents to offer this service. American then became the first airline in the world to complete IET links with all its global alliance partners, in June last year.
Links are now in place between all the 28 of the potential pairs of partners.
The chart below indicates when each pairs of oneworld carriers started offering IET.
AA | AY | BA | CX | EI | IB | LA | QF | |
AA | May 02 | April 04 | Nov 03 | April 04 | June 04 | July 03 | Oct 03 | |
AY | May 02 | June 04 | Dec 04 | Feb 05 | Jan 05 | Jan 05 | June 04 | |
BA | April 04 | June 04 | Oct 04 | June 04 | Sept 04 | July 04 | April 04 | |
CX | Nov 03 | Dec 04 | Oct 04 | April 05 | Mar 05 | Feb 05 | Dec 04 | |
EI | April 04 | Feb 05 | June 04 | April 05 | April 05 | April 05 | July 04 | |
IB | June 04 | Jan 05 | Sept 04 | Mar 05 | April 05 | Nov 04 | Nov 04 | |
LA | July 03 | Jan 05 | July 04 | Feb 05 | April 05 | Nov 04 | Sept 04 | |
QF | Oct 03 | June 04 | April 04 | Dec 04 | July 04 | Nov 04 | Sept 04 |
Key: AA: American Airlines AY: Finnair BA: British Airways CX: Cathay Pacific EI: Aer Lingus IB: Iberia LA: LAN QF: Qantas
Notes: Electronic tickets can be used for journeys on oneworld carriers of up to 20 flight sectors, more than the industry standard. Electronic tickets cannot yet be used at a small number of airports where the appropriate technology has yet to be installed. oneworld carriers will extend the use of e-tickets to them as soon as these airports are equipped.
oneworld in brief: oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus - enabling them 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. Together, its members serve some 600 destinations and 135 countries. oneworld was voted the world's best airline alliance by readers of Business Traveller magazine in its 2004 poll and the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the second year running in the latest World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by80,000 travel agency professionalsfrom more than 200 countries. It is also the only alliance whose members reported collective profits last year. Note: LAN affiliate LAN ECUADOR is not a member of oneworld.