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Redemption Availability Project is a StarNet Success
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The Star Alliance award redemption project that
reservations sales and service representatives
(RSSRs) began using mid-July has dramatically
simplified the process of requesting award space for
several Star Alliance members. It was one of the
first projects loaded onto the alliance's StarNet
computer network.

StarNet allows RSSRs to see for the first time the
award inventory for 11 of the 15 Star Alliance
members. The remaining four carriers, Singapore
Airlines, Ansett, bmi british midland and Mexicana,
are in the process of being connected and will be
online within the next year.

"The redemption process across our Star Alliance
carriers had been really complex," says Teri
Hartwig, senior staff representative-Reservations
Marketing Communications. "A customer would call to
say they'd like to fly SAS to Copenhagen in June,
and the RSSR would need to request the space without
seeing the inventory. They'd have to ask the
customer to call back to see if the space was
confirmed. Typically, award inventory is very
limited; therefore, several attempts could be made.
Now we can confirm award travel on the very first
call.

"We issued well more than 200,000 awards on Star
Alliance carriers in 2000," says Hartwig. "The new
system allows us to avoid generating thousands of
additional, and now unnecessary, calls. We've
already seen positive results in our transaction
times. Customers are happier, and our front-line
employees are, too. It's a great enhancement."


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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.