FORT WORTH, Texas,
March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- After more than 80
years of bringing people together through the air, American Airlines is now
bringing people together through cyberspace on Facebook(R) Platform.
American Airlines has launched Travel Bag, an exciting new application on
Facebook Platform that makes it easy for users to share travel experiences
with friends in their network; to offer and read reviews and comments on
things such as restaurants and shops; and even to create countdowns for
upcoming events or trips to let friends know what they're doing to.
In addition, Travel Bag offers a convenient link to American's
award-winning Web site, AA.com, where Facebook users can check for low fares,
make reservations, view their AAdvantage(R) miles, check gate and
arrival/departure information, even get the 411 on American Airlines
destinations -- all within their own unique profile page.
Facebook has more than 67 million active users, and American Airlines is
the first major airline to offer an application on the site for users to
contribute and access travel-related content.
"At American Airlines and AA.com, we know that one of the great pleasures
of travel is being able to share your experiences and knowledge with others,
and our new application on Facebook Platform makes that easy, convenient and
fun," said Derek DeCross, Managing Director - Interactive Marketing at
American. "It's also a new portal to everything that American has to offer
customers through AA.com. If you read or see something during a Facebook
session that inspires you to travel, the start of your trip is just a click
away, at AA.com."
The components of the new American Airlines application on Facebook
Platform are:
-- Favorites - Generate a list of your "favorite things" -- the best
restaurants, the best-equipped gyms, the best museums, and more in your
town or on the other side of the world. Share with fellow Facebook
users your impressions, with information easily organized by category,
destination, network or previously tagged favorites.
-- Travelogue - Make travel journals, include photographs, share anecdotes
with other Facebook users, and let them know all about your most recent
trip. Was it the trip of a lifetime, and are you already planning your
next one? Travelogue is better and faster than a postcard, and you
don't have to worry about stamps.
-- Trip-O-Vent - Create visual countdowns to important events in your life
for other Facebook users to see -- an upcoming trip, a graduation, a
wedding. Invite friends to your event or even add pictures. An
additional component allows Facebook users to search for public events
by destination, so if you have free time or are feeling bored, now
you'll know what's going on around town.
"American Airlines is committed to interacting with customers in ways that
are most convenient to them. With Facebook's enormous popularity, it's an
ideal forum to reach out to our current and potential customers," DeCross
said. "We're excited about this new capability and plan to add enhancements
to it, keeping it fresh and relevant as the community of users grows."
It's fast and easy to download the new American Airlines application on
your Facebook page. Simply visit http://www.facebook.com and search for
"Travel Bag" in the Application directory.
The ability to interact with American Airlines and AA.com in the Facebook
environment is just one of many recent enhancements for AA.com users. Earlier
this year, American introduced a mobile version of its Web site that provides
access to most of the same services available on AA.com -- all from a
Web-enabled cell phone or other Web-enabled device. For more information,
visit http://www.aa.com/mobile.
Other customer-friendly features American has added to its Web site in the
past year include:
-- A new online shopping and booking feature that makes it easier for
customers to plan travel on AA.com with the ability to see, at a
glance, the lowest fare available three days before and three days
after their original departure date.
-- The new DealFinder(SM) tool, which can be downloaded to a user's
computer desktop and offers customers exclusive, personalized, special
fares to locations throughout American's worldwide network.
-- A new AAdvantage award booking feature that makes it faster and more
convenient to plan and book AAdvantage award travel on AA.com with
color-coded calendars showing available dates for each of the various
AAdvantage award levels over a four-week period. The AAdvantage award
booking tool can be used on any domestic or international route flown
by American, American Eagle or AmericanConnection(R) carriers.
-- A "Change Reservations" feature recently added to AA.com enables many
customers to change their reservations online up to three hours prior
to scheduled flight departure.
-- New, country-specific Spanish-language portals added to
http://www.aa.com/espanol allow site visitors to select their country
of residence from among nearly 20 choices, allowing American to better
serve customers in Latin America and the United States.
-- The "Fly Now, Pay Later" deferred payment option allows holders of the
American Airlines Credit Card(SM) to enjoy six months of no payments
and no interest for tickets purchased on AA.com. For terms and
conditions and more details, visit http://www.aa.com/paylater.
About AA.com
With more than 1.6 million site visits per day, AA.com is American's
largest distribution channel and the best place to do business online with the
airline, 24-7. At AA.com you can conveniently search for and book low fares
and award travel; select seats; make hotel, rental car and cruise
reservations; get flight arrival and departure information; sign up for flight
status notification and even check in and print boarding passes. You can also
manage your AAdvantage account at AA.com, as well as sign up to receive emails
from American and get customized DealFinder alerts and other special offers.
Customers who purchase tickets at AA.com get a lowest-fare guarantee and don't
pay an online booking fee. AA.com has twice received the World Travel Award
for World's Leading Airline Internet Site and has received multiple site
awards from various organizations.
About American Airlines
American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American
Eagle and the AmericanConnection(R) airlines serve 250 cities in over 40
countries with more than 4,000 daily flights. The combined network fleet
numbers more than 1,000 aircraft. American's award-winning Web site, AA.com,
provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized
news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member
of the oneworld(R) Alliance, which brings together some of the best and
biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers
more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together,
its members serve nearly 700 destinations in over 140 countries and
territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are
subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle,
AmericanConnection, AA.com, AAdvantage and We know why you fly are registered
trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. DealFinder is a mark of American
Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: AMR).
AmericanAirlines(R) We know why you fly(R)
Current AMR Corp. releases can be accessed on the Internet.
The address is http://www.aa.com
Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.