American Leads The Industry With Its Mobile App Offerings

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- American Airlines continues its forward momentum in the mobile application space once again as it launches apps for BlackBerry® and Windows® Phone smartphones. These latest additions to American's suite of mobile apps make American accessible on more devices and through more channels than any other airline, underscoring its commitment to keeping its customers connected while on the go.

Available for the BlackBerry Curve™, BlackBerry Torch™, BlackBerry Tour™, BlackBerry Bold™ and Windows Phone smartphones, the new apps offer many of the same convenient mobile tools that are available in American's previously released apps for Android™, iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch® and the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color Reader's Tablet™. These useful features, which are designed to simplify travel for American's customers on the go, include the ability to:

• Create flight status notifications
• Check flight status and  schedules
• View personal flight details
• Check in for flights
• Access mobile boarding passes
• Monitor standby status
• Access AAdvantage® accounts and enroll in the program
• Track AAdvantage elite status progress
• View terminal maps

In addition, a unique feature of American's app for BlackBerry smartphones allows users to save their flight itineraries directly to their calendars. A future version of the app will allow users to easily share their flight information with contacts via BBM™ (BlackBerry Messenger™).

The introduction of American's apps for BlackBerry and Windows Phone smartphones also means that American's mobile apps are available to a large majority of smartphone users. According to a recent Nielsen report, BlackBerry, Android, Apple and Windows Phone make up 87 percent of the smartphone market. In addition, more than 90 percent of American Airlines customers who access AA.com's mobile site use devices on these platforms, highlighting American's focus on developing useful technologies that meet the needs of its customers.

"We know our customers continue to rely heavily on their mobile devices when traveling, and these new apps will simplify travel for a larger portion of them," said Andrew Watson, American's Vice President – Customer Technology. "Whether they need to check in for a flight, view their itinerary or access their mobile boarding pass, customers can use our apps to stay connected and make their travel experience more convenient right from the palms of their hands."

American's new apps are the latest in a number of recent mobile options and enhancements that American is rolling out to solidify its leadership in the mobile space. This month, American continued to expand its Mobile Boarding Pass functionality, which is now available to customers traveling through more than 65 cities, most recently adding Cincinnati; Hartford, Conn.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Milwaukee; Madison, Wis.; and Montevideo, Uruguay. American plans to add even more cities to the list in July. As American continues to make the Mobile Boarding Pass option available across its network, customers around the world will benefit from the time (and paper) savings the technology offers.

The Mobile Boarding Pass process is simple. After checking in through one of American's mobile apps, the Mobile Boarding Pass is stored for easy access during the travel process. Customers who don't have an app can get their Mobile Boarding Pass through the online check-in process on AA.com by selecting the "Email with Mobile Option." They then will receive an email with an Internet link to their boarding pass, which is comprised of a 2-D barcode that can be scanned both at security checkpoints and at American Airlines gates. More details, including a complete list of cities where Mobile Boarding is available, can be found at AA.com/MobileBoarding.

To help customers stay connected throughout their travels, the AA.com Notification Center at AA.com/Connect enables AAdvantage members to set up flight status notification preferences just one time to automatically receive updates on gates, times and baggage claim areas via email, voicemail or text message for all their future flights. Customers can also set up notifications for friends and family and save up to 10 contacts in their AAdvantage profile. In addition, customers can still create a one-time notification for any American Airlines flight, even if they are not flying on that particular flight.

For customers who may not have an Internet enabled smartphone or one of American's mobile apps, the airline has developed a one-off text message notification option that provides customers information for specific flights on the day of travel. The recently launched FLYAA text option allows customers to send a text message with their flight number and airport code, or just their flight number, to FLYAA (35922) and receive an instant text response with useful details, including gates, times and baggage claim areas. Details on how to use the FLYAA text option can be found at AA.com/FLYAA.

"American's growth in all areas of the mobile space this past year has been very exciting for the company, as well as for our customers," said Rick Elieson, Managing Director – American Airlines Interactive Marketing. "We continue to look for ways to innovate and optimize the functionality within our mobile apps as well as develop other future mobile enhancements that will allow us to reach even more customers."

The new BlackBerry smartphone app can be downloaded by going to AA.com/BlackBerry on select smartphones running BlackBerry OS 5.0 or 6.0. The new Windows Phone app can be downloaded in the Windows Marketplace® on any smartphone using Windows Phone OS 7.0 (marketplace.windowsphone.com).

To see all the devices where the American Airlines app is currently available, visit AA.com/App. More information about American's other mobile offerings, including Mobile Boarding Passes and the FLYAA text notification option, can be found at AA.com/Mobile.

About American Airlines

American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection® serve 250 cities in 50 countries with, on average, more than 3,600 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft. American's award-winning website, AA.com®, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld® Alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members serve approximately 900 destinations with more than 9,000 daily flights to 145 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com, and AAdvantage are trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: AMR).

About Research in Motion

Research In Motion (RIM) is authorizing the use of its trademarks in this specific press release only. RIM's limited approval is not a license, implied or otherwise, to its trademarks or any other intellectual property rights. Notwithstanding this limited approval, RIM reserves all rights with respect to its intellectual property.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.  

Current AMR Corp. releases can be accessed on the Internet.

The address is http://www.aa.com

SOURCE American Airlines

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