Airlines Extend Fight To Rule Online Skies

The war to win the clicks of online travel shoppers continues to sizzle, with two major airlines touting their ability Friday to use the Internet to reach customers directly.

Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq: NWAC) said it would give customers the ability to change their own flights through its Web site or through airport-based Internet kiosks. The service is designed to cater to harried travelers forced to alter plans at the last minute.

And crediting "an aggressive campaign of Internet fare sales" for its increased traffic, American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) announced Friday that daily visits to AA.com are up 165 percent over a year ago. American said it is getting more than 750,000 visitors per day to its site.

"It shows our efforts are working," said John Samuel, the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline's vice president of customer technology.

Time is Money

Northwest said the last-minute exchange service is not available through most online ticket agents.

"This is another time-saving convenience that enhances the travel experience for customers who must adjust travel plans," said Al Lenza, Northwest's vice president of distribution planning and e-commerce.

The new offerings on Northwest's Web site are a change in course for airline sites, most of which have relied to date on deep discounts to attract Internet customers.

In fact, within the past week, several airlines, including AirTran and Delta, unveiled deep discounts on certain tickets through their sites.

Battle Engaged

All of the efforts come amid a rapidly evolving landscape for online travel sales. In just a few weeks, Orbitz.com -- whose backers include Northwest, American and Delta -- has already had a major impact on the industry, besting even its own expectations for sales during its first few days of operation.

In response, established travel sites have added features of their own. For instance, just days after Orbitz went live, Travelocity (Nasdaq: TVLY) announced an alliance to allow customers to make last-minute bookings.

Advantage Airlines?

However, airlines might have the upper hand over their online-only competitors.

A study released in April by Jupiter Media Metrix found that airlines had posted a 26 percent year-over-year gain in Web traffic, while online travel sites had actually seen a decrease.

Jupiter said the airline sites are making "significant inroads," despite the fact that many got a late start against their Net travel site rivals.

Additionally, analysts say the airlines have an incentive to embrace the Web as a sales channel. In most cases, selling tickets online -- or enabling travelers to re-book on the Internet -- reduces customer service costs.