CHAPTER 12 Developing Business Information Systems
Competition Forcing Businesses to Implement New Systems How much is the Internet changing the way airlines do business? Southwest Airlines now sells over 30 percent of its tickets online and expects to sell an even greater percentage in the future. Six major airlines have formed a consortium to compete with existing Web-based companies that sell heavily discounted airline tickets. The site, called Hotwire, takes a little different approach than the popular priceline.com in that it invites customers to identify their routes and then select from available discount fares. In contrast, priceline.com allows people to bid on tickets. Needless to say, travel agents are concerned about this trend of airlines eliminating the middleperson and selling directly to the customer.