CONTINENTAL AIRLINES AND UNITED AIRLINES TO IMPLEMENT INTERLINE E-TICKETING

Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) and United Airlines (NYSE: UAL) tomorrow will introduce interline e-ticketing, allowing customers to use a single electronic ticket when their itineraries include travel on both carriers. It will also make it easier for both carriers to accept e-ticketed passengers from each other.

Customers of both airlines will benefit from interline electronic tickets if a need arises for them to be re-booked from one airline to another, without having to obtain a paper ticket first.

Previously, passengers booked electronically would be required to convert to a paper ticket before transferring between carriers. That's because neither airline had access to the other's electronic ticket data base. Interline e-ticketing bridges the two different airline computer reservation systems, allowing access to electronically stored itineraries.

"Electronic ticketing has become the preferred method of travel for most people today," said Continental's Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Janet Wejman. "Our intention is to make it convenient for everyone to use interline e-ticketing not only throughout our system, but in conjunction with United and the other major carriers as well."

Montie Brewer, Senior Vice President Planning for United Airlines says, "As we move to streamline the airport process we believe it is essential to have interline electronic ticketing in place with all major carriers. Deployment with Continental brings us one important step closer to that goal."

Interline e-tickets can be issued by Continental and United through their respective reservation centers, websites (www.continental.com) and (www.united.com), airports and ticket offices.

Current plans are to enable travel agents to issue interline e-tickets for travel on Continental and United later this year. In October, 1999, Continental and America West became the first airlines to launch interline e-ticketing. Since then, Continental has implemented interline e-ticketing with Northwest Airlines. United also offers interline e-ticketing with Air Canada.

Customer usage of electronic ticketing at both Continental and United has surged. More than 50 percent of Continental's customers traveling in the U.S. use e-tickets, which are available to more than 95 percent of the airline's international destinations, including Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guam and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Similarly, more than 70 percent of the tickets used by United customers are electronic. United first introduced electronic ticketing in November 1994 and implemented its first interline product with Air Canada in June 1999. United's surveys have shown that electronic ticketing is the preferred form of ticketing for more than 90 percent of the customers who use it. United Airlines offers nearly 2,300 flights a day to 130 destinations in 27 countries and two U.S. territories.