The Internet is gaining momentum in airline passenger services, two major airlines say. Northwest plans to announce today that it will become the largest carrier to test passenger flight check-in over the Internet. At Southwest, which began selling tickets online in 1996, its percentage of Internet bookings is roughly twice that of its closest airline rivals.
Brown report says.
Northwest will announce that it is testing an Internet program that lets a passenger use a PC at the office or home to check in for a flight and get printed boarding passes. Fliers need a major credit card, a flight confirmation number or a Northwest WorldPerks membership number. Northwest is testing the Internet check-in with two unidentified corporate customers, one in Cincinnati and one in Des Moines, and will extend it to all customers early next year if the tests succeed. Although Northwest is the largest airline to do so, Alaska Airlines began Internet check-in in November 1999. Continental , Delta and United are among the other airlines studying it.