Case Study: Continental Airline's Tech Strategy Takes Off - ' Luring New Customers '
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Luring New Customers
To gain new business, Continental has a simple plan: woo travelers into its frequent-flier programs with numerous tech-based perks, then make them loyal to the Continental brand. For example, travelers who enroll in the OnePass program can take advantage of a new service called Trip Alert, which sends SMS notifications about upcoming flights. In the near future, Gorman says, the system will also assist passengers who have missed a connection. "So as soon as you land and turn on your phone, you'll get a message from Trip Alert with your new flight itinerary. Then you can go to a nearby kiosk and print out a new boarding pass," he says.

But just as important is knowing which routes will yield the most loyal and profitable customers. Using business intelligence tools and call-center monitoring software from Atlanta-based Witness Systems Inc.—which tracks customer calls to help gain insight into which new routes the airline should start up—has resulted in Continental's burgeoning destination list.

Much of Continental's technology success, Natale says, can be attributed to the carrier's aversion to outsourcing. With the exception of a few legacy systems still managed by EDS (which once managed virtually all of Continental's IT), Continental's tech staff of 350, including 150 software developers, handles just about everything. "That makes us far more nimble," Natale says. And it doesn't hurt that Anderson-Lehman reports directly to Continental President Jeff Smisek. "Our executive team values technology and sees it as a strategic investment, as opposed to something you cut costs with," Anderson-Lehman says. "I think that's the primary reason why we can make a difference."

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Of course, there are times when the carrier's systems don't perform as effectively as executives might hope. On May 11, for example, an angry crowd of Continental passengers amassed at Gate E12 in Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The 1:16 p.m. flight to New York had been delayed first by a few minutes, then a few hours, and then was canceled altogether. At first, counter attendants blamed an air-traffic-control problem. Then they announced that a severe weather condition across Virginia was causing the delay. As the line of passengers formed to reschedule connections, however, attendants found that the system had automatically rerouted passengers to other flights, and agents couldn't easily locate the new flight information.

Gorman admits there are still some wrinkles that need ironing out—namely, the critical transfer of knowledge from the data warehouse to Continental's crew members, both on the ground and in the air. In-flight attendants still aren't privy to information on rerouted connecting flights, for example. "But we're looking at ways to wirelessly transmit that information to the airplane, not just to the attendant but to the passenger," he says.

Story Guide:

Continental Airline's Tech Strategy Takes Off

Worst to First

First to Favorite

Luring New Customers

Final Destination

Sidebar:

Continental's Wireless Plan on the Wing

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