BA.com celebrates 20 years
Above:
Nick Gassman shows off ba.com homepage in 1996 with colleague Helen Liiley.
The worldwide web was still finding its feet and few people really understood how big a difference the internet was going to make to their everyday lives.
British Airways had embraced the new technology and launched ba.com just a few minutes before midnight on Christmas Eve, 1995.
Twenty years - and millions of customers - later, ba.com
is one of the most successful and visited travel sites in the UK with more than 18 million visits globally each month and ranks among the top ten online retailers by revenue in the country.
Sara Dunham, British Airways’ head of marketing retail and direct channels, said: “From humble beginnings to a website with global reach, ba.com has become a real powerhouse, with nearly 60% of our customers now checking-in on desktop and on mobile – up from 20 per cent in 2006. The number of flights bought on ba.com has soared over the years, by 300 per cent over the last decade and continues to rise.
“The last 20 years has seen constant innovation, allowing us to develop and grow ba.com, enabling customers to manage their whole travelling experience online, whether on PCs, laptops, phones, tablets, or now, the Apple watch.
“We’ll see increasing personalisation on digital platforms to make ba.com our customer’s personal travel concierge. And we look forward to the next 20 years and all the exciting changes in store as we celebrate this Christmas with ba.com’s coming of age.”
When launched, ba.com had little more than a handful of pages, showing basic timetable, product and contact information. However, as interest in the internet exploded, people across the airline saw the opportunities that the website and the new technology could offer.
Nick Gassman, British Airways’ user experience and design manager, who led the original ba.com launch team, said: “While knowledge of the internet was limited at the time the idea of a worldwide computer network seemed well suited to our worldwide business ambitions.
“It’s easy now to take the internet for granted, but it shouldn’t be forgotten how far we’ve come and how vital it, and ba.com, are to putting the customer in control and making their whole travelling experience much easier.”
Over the last 20 years British Airways’ IT and commercial experts have constantly refined the site to make it ever more intuitive and put the customer at the heart of the experience.
Available in multiple languages with specially tailored content for customers in different countries, ba.com can be viewed on PCs, laptops, tablets and phones, with integrated information also available on the Apple watch, through the airline’s newly enhanced app.
It offers a world of flights, hotels, holiday packages, rental cars and special offers to nearly 200 destinations around the globe served by British Airways – and beyond – thanks to its partner airlines.
ba.com is also a one-stop shop for business and leisure customers, of real-time flight information, comprehensive timetables, constantly updated travel advice, and detailed information and videos about the airline’s 282-strong fleet of aircraft, cabins and products.
Customers can sample what they can expect to enjoy when travelling in First, Club, World Traveller, World Traveller Plus or on short-haul and domestic flights, as well as what’s on offer in the airline’s worldwide network of luxurious lounges.
The site enables customers to check-in online and printing out their boarding passes – or downloading them to their mobile. Booking details are available to view in Manage My Booking, where customers can also choose their seat, change flights, upgrade to a higher cabin, request a special meal or reserve and pay for enhanced in-flight dining, as well as adding passport information and asking for special assistance.
Business travellers can join the airline’s recently re-launched reward scheme for small and medium sized businesses, On Business, which gives flight discounts and points for upgrades, or use ba.com to manage flights offered through deals for corporate customers.
Leisure and business travellers can become members of the airline’s free-to-join Executive Club loyalty programme, to earn and spend Avios on British Airways and partner airlines flights, hotels and cars and manage their accounts online.
The Integration of customer information in real-time across all platforms now also ensures each and every British Airways customer around the world can access ba.com to provide an online travel service.
Major milestones in the ba.com timeline:
• 1995 - http://british-airways.com is launched just a few minutes before Christmas Day, on Christmas Eve 1995
• 1996 - Flight selling goes live – with the first ticket bought by a customer flying to Jersey
• 1997 - www.britishairways.com is added as a valid url, after the previous owner had asked for, but not received, Concorde tickets in exchange!
• 1999 - britishairways.com wins the Revolution award for best use of new media for consumer marketing
• 2000 - British Airways is the first global airline to offer online check-in – for Executive Club members only
• 2001 - WAP (mobile) check-in launched
• 2001 - ba.com address launched for British Airways
• 2002 - British Airways is the first airline in the world to launch calendar led selling
• 2004 - Online boarding passes launched
• 2004 - Online flight change and upgrade launched
• 2008 - British Airways is the first airline to launch an iPhone app
• 2008 - British Airways is the first UK airline to offer mobile check-in
• 2009 - Combined flight plus hotel, or flight plus car, booking is launched
• 2010 - British Airways is the first UK airline to launch mobile boarding passes
• 2010 - ba.com is named ‘Best Airline Website’ by Travolution
• 2011 - British Airways is the first airline to launch Windows phone mobile boarding passes
• 2011 - ba.com is named ‘Best Airline Website’ by Travolution
• 2013 - Passbook boarding passes launched for iPhones
• 2014 - Hold booking and price for 72 hours for a fee launched
• 2014 - Re-launch of the British Airways mobile app, which becomes the top rated airline app in the world
• 2015 - Customers able to use the new Apple watch for mobile boarding. Commended in the Marketing on Mobile Awards (MOMA)
• 2015 - Pre booked in-flight dinning options launched