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

To: Razorbak who wrote (4195)	1/31/1999 4:18:00 PM
From: M.R. Davis	Respond to of 4761

Consequently, the Company believes its average reservation agent can book an average of $265 in travel plans for customers per hour, compared to the industry average of $147 per hour. If IFLY was beating the industry standard for $ booked per hour back in 1997 - how are they doing now? More importantly if they are booking $265 per hour then what sort of increases will we see with an interactive website where request/booking times are cut by at least half and perhaps as much as one fifth (customers pre-enter all data)? In addition agents are able to work more than one IRIS screen at one - although probably not more than two. If the ratio of people booking: people requesting is about the same on the web as for telephones (and that is a big assumption) then IFLY could easily deliver $1000 per hour in bookings compared to an industry average of $147 per hour. We won't really start to see this until 2nd qtr earnings this year. Last year's 4th qtr IRIS was being tested. This years 1st qtr IRIS is being rolled out (and many visitors to the site have been investors), agents are being trained and equipment is being installed. 2nd, 3rd & 4th qtr earnings will, IMO, be dynamite. Mark

To: Razorbak who wrote (4195)	1/31/1999 4:37:00 PM
From: M.R. Davis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4761

Mr Razorbak Apologies for posting excerpts of the propectus "piecemeal". But the whole prospectus cannot be posted and I feel these are digestible pieces. Let me continue from the SB2 (prospectus): =================================================================== Personalized Service The Company's customized Turbo SABRE system enables it to retain in its files individual travel preferences for its customers, such as seating, special meals and frequent flier numbers, which are automatically displayed when a customer's identifying information is input. This tailored information program personalizes the reservation process as well as reduces the time required to complete each reservation. Corporate Customers While the Company's current customers are predominantly individuals and the Company's operating strategy targets the consumer market, the Company offers certain services targeted at corporate customers. These services, however, are designed to be offered during the processing of a single telephone call, as with calls from individual customers. The Company's Turbo SABRE system enables it to program "pop-up-windows" specifying, for each corporate customer, its travel policy, preferred air carrier vendors, specially negotiated rates, handling instructions and emergency procedures. The "pop-up-window" for each corporate customer appears on the terminal screen and guides the reservation agent during the reservation process. Repeat Customers The Company believes that repeat customers are key to its ability to grow. The Company's "1-800-LOW-AIR-FARE" (1-800-569-2473) number has a rate of repeat customers (meaning customers who purchase at least one more ticket within a year) of approximately 38%, and the Company's "1-800-FLY-4-LESS" (1-800-359-4537) number has a repeat customer rate of approximately 50%. The Company believes that while customers are initially attracted by the low-price airfares made available by the Company, they become repeat customers because of their satisfaction not only with the prices but also the convenience of being able to book their reservations on one relatively brief and toll-free telephone call. The Company believes that it can generate internal growth by obtaining an even larger portion of the travel business of its existing customers and consequently increasing its repeat customer rates. =================================================================== Seems to me like the put a lot of work and years of experience into the interface they give their agents to work with. And remember all this is prior to the Web intiative. What I see is that the company went to the web, not to join the bandwagon, but because in the search for great efficiencies the Web offers huge gains. Mark