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Technology Stocks : IFLY - travel sales on the web pure play -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ilh1 who wrote (3146)	12/31/1998 4:41:00 PM
From: M.R. Davis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4761

so Davis, you actually tested the new IFLY site? Yes. I've tested it twice. It is simpler to use by far than any other travel site I've tried (and that's just the screen for inputting your itinerary). The actual experience of IRIS - the CHAT session is so different from any other travel site. You know immediately that you are dealing with a person and not a computer. Immediately you feel more at home. Someone is actually there responding to the messages I type! And prices are very very good. Obviously IFLY spent a lot of time thinking about what the experience of using the Internet to book tickets is like. The solution looks blindingly simple. It is in fact the product of great experience and insight in selling customers tickets. IFLY is not going for the educated high-tech wealthy Internet tech crowd (us???!!!) but for the plain Joe who's just on the web, isn't tech savvy, and wants to get an airline ticket. Mr plain Joe will feel very comfortable at the IRIS site and will feel secure doing the transaction online - because of the CHAT session. Here is my first experience of using the site: (sorry if the formatting is screwy) - link:http://www.siliconinvestor.com/~wsapi/investor/reply?s=IFLY+test&sreply=6690814 +++++++++++++++ Just finished test of IRIS - simply awesome. So simple to use! Uncluttered clear screens. Non-web savvy users will feel immediately at home. My office colleague, Brenda, wanted to look at airfares from New York (JFK) to Capetown in January. A price came back of $1371.00 - which similar to the best price Brenda had found before. NOW it gets interesting. Because of IRIS the agent asked if Brenda could travel a day earlier. Brenda typed back - Yes. Then agent posted a price of $1051 for flying a day earlier! Brenda was blown away! She's never seen a price like that for Capetown! (she visits family there quite regularly). We both came away very impressed. Instead of typing in different dates to the computer to get prices back a real human being can simply write to us "Fly a day earlier (or later) and I can get you much better price". The IRIS system takes the experience of the Internet to a whole new level. I mean I've used ICQ and Netmeeting - but that's with friends - but to conduct ecommerce this way is something radically new! Oh! And the prices! (And they get better commissions than the competition too!) The whole office is invested in IFLY or IFLYW. And my colleagues are buying more tomorrow after this! [I am MAXED out on IFLY - what to do!] ++++++ Just ran the same test on Preview Travel. Screens are much more complicated. Couldn't understand my destination of Capetown because it should be spelled Cape Town. Had to go to a seperate page to look up Cape Town. Entered information. Then I got an error message - they are having difficulties with their reservation system. I guess I'll try later. Difficulties with their business plan AND their reservation system - phew! +++++ (later...) Preview's reservation system finally works! (Can't say same for business plan) Prices for the same flight details. JFK to Cape Town return. IFLY - $1051.00 PTVL - $1580.90 (Preview quoted 3 other prices - all above $1900) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This was initially posted at:http://www.siliconinvestor.com/~wsapi/investor/reply?s=IFLY+test&sreply=6690814