First Russian Internet ticket booking from East Line

Published: 2/19/2000

East Line has introduced a new Internet booking service for customers. Tickets will be delivered to the customers free of charge. Systems Instant! and UCS are used in the process, in order to guarantee confidentiality and efficiency. Customer credit cards need to be initially registered with Instant!, and confirmed at the East Line office, after which the customer can order and buy tickets via the Internet without further checks. The scheme is designed to attract corporate clients who are frequent ticket purchasers. The system will be soon improved to provide on-line information from reservation systems about schedules, fares and seat availability. East Line claims to be the first Russian airline to offer the Internet-based system. This move by East Line is part of the major changes occuring in Russian airline ticket retail, as airlines move away from using agents clearing through the centralised state owned structure, Transport Clearing Chamber (TCC), which according to its President Sergey Ilichev sells 75% of the country's tickets in favour of direct selling. The move has been accelerated by accusations of corruption within the TCC and investigations of tax fraud by the Federal Tax Police in December 1999. Associated articles: www.concise.org, 1st December 1999

Article ID: 1437