By Expedia Guest Author, on July 26, 2001

Expedia.com Worldwide Travel Exchange Launches with AA.com as Its Inaugural Partner

BELLEVUE, Wash. – July 25, 2001 – Launched today, Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE) delivers private label booking solutions for travel suppliers and other primary travel sites looking to enhance their product offerings. The first customer for this new service is American Airlines, which is using WWTE to add hotel and car booking services to AA.com, their award-winning Web site. WWTE is a division within Travelscape.com, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Expedia, Inc.
“Worldwide Travel Exchange allows us to expand our distribution and strengthen the wholesale side of our business,” said Greg Slyngstad, senior vice president of destinations for Expedia, Inc. “Offering a private label solution to our travel industry partners opens up new distribution opportunities and builds on our leadership position in Internet lodging. With increased sales volume, we can send even more business to our hotel and car partners and travelers ultimately will see even better deals.”

WWTE is unique because of its wide array of services and integrated offering of negotiated and published inventory. Travelers needing customer service will be directed to WWTE representatives through email and phone.

“In addition to booking air travel, managing their AADVANTAGE® accounts and checking special fares on AA.com, our customers will now have the added convenience of making car and hotel reservations at the same time,” said John Samuel, American’s vice president of customer technology. “Partnering with Worldwide Travel Exchange allows AA.com to offer an industry-leading solution for hotel and car booking that has already proven to be popular among travelers.”

About Worldwide Travel Exchange

Worldwide Travel Exchange is a division of Travelscape.com, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Expedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE). WWTE provides private label booking solutions for travel suppliers and other primary travel sites looking to enhance their product offerings. Services currently available include hotel and car rentals, and feature both negotiated and published rate inventory. In addition to live agent and email support 24 hours a day/seven days a week, WWTE purchases are supported by a privacy and security policy.

About AA.com

The award-winning American Airlines Web site, www.aa.com, is among the top travel sites on the Internet and is recognized as one of the largest e-commerce sites (Media Metrix). AA.com recently has received several honors, including a place in InformationWeek’s “Innovation 100: The Customer” ranking, and “Best Airline Site” and “Best Travel Site” WebAwards for 2000. For site users who log in with an AADVANTAGE number and password, AA.com provides news, information and specials that are personalized to passengers’ preferred airports, destinations and AADVANTAGE program travel partners. In addition, the site offers quick, easy and convenient travel reservations, flight status notification via a variety of wired and wireless devices and online management of AADVANTAGE Travel Awards Program accounts.

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