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

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (4389)	3/16/1999 9:24:00 PM
From: Sergio H	Respond to of 4761

Anthony, IFLY covers most of the major airlines. Continental sells tickets for Continental. That's why people go to IFLY. <gggg> Oh, by the way....the website that you liked better was in the news today: March 16, 1999 Continental's Web-Bargain Shoppers Are Met With UnCO.O.L. Apology By JANE COSTELLO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE EDITION During the past two weeks, Continental Airlines' CO.O.L. Travel Assistant (www.continental.com/cool) has been less than helpful to last-minute bargain hunters. On March 3, Continental's weekly CO.O.L. Travel Specials featured a round-trip fare of $169 for travel between Cleveland and New Orleans. The next morning, the airline sent an e-mail advisory apologizing for having "inadvertently" advertised a fare between Cleveland and New Orleans that was not available. Fortunately for Continental, no CO.O.L. travelers felt the need to flee the Midwest for a weekend fling in the Big Easy: according to Continental spokesperson Catherine Stengel, no subscribers requested the fare, so the airline wasn't faced with a decision about having to honor it. But last week, the dearth of good deals affected thousands of CO.O.L. Travel subscribers. Those who logged on to their e-mail accounts on Wednesday morning hoping to jump-start last-minute weekend plans received the following message from the airline: Due to Limited Availability, CO.O.L. Travel Specials Will Not Be Available This Week. Query of the Week: Does videoconferencing really reduce business travel? Tell us your experiences using it or whether you think it can or can't replace face-to-face contact. Write to: BusinessFare@interactive.wsj.com. Unencumbered by the usual burden of having to promote specific city pairs, the airline took the opportunity to promote itself: "Continential Airlines' Internet Site Ranked No. 1 in Loyalty and Satisfaction." The message also encouraged recipients to enter a contest to win tickets to the NCAA Final Four tournament or to take advantage of discounted tickets to watch the Dancers and Musicians of Bali perform at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on March 18. But subscribers who ventured beyond the mailing to check out Continental's Web site in search of a more detailed explanation were in for an even more bizarre experience. There was no mention of the lack of CO.O.L. Travel Specials on the home page, and clicking on the section entitled "Deals This Good Come Along Only Once Every 7 Days" conjured up the following warmed-over apology: Go to the Site Seeing archive. "Continental Airlines wishes you and your family a very Happy and Safe Holiday Season," read the re-hashed headline leftover from the last time Continental nixed CO.O.L. Travel Specials in favor of cold hard cash. "Due to the New Year's Holiday, CO.O.L. Travel Specials will not be available this week. Please check back next week for CO.O.L. Travel Specials available for the week of January 9 through 12." By Thursday, the airline had corrected the problem and placed an updated apology in the section. Although there is still no explanation posted online as to why the fares were not available, Ms. Stengel said it was due to the crush of college students traveling during spring break.