Orbitz Secures No. 1 Ranking by Independent Customer Respect Study for Third Consecutive Year

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Orbitz Introduces another Industry First in Customer Care with 'Critical Care Alerts'

CHICAGO, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbitz, the site that makes travel easier, ranked No. 1 in online customer experience for the third year in a row in the First Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study of the largest Airline and Travel firms. The study was conducted by The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how companies treat their customers online.

Orbitz received the best rating, 8.6 out of 10, which was significantly higher than the average of 7.3 among the other travel companies surveyed.

"At Orbitz, our goal is to make travel easier and we know that a good online experience is the first step in creating a happy, loyal customer," said Eliah Kahn, senior vice president of Customer Experience at Cendant TDS. "From our one-of-a-kind Care Alerts to our fast email inquiry response times, we are continually making enhancements to the site to ensure we are meeting our customers' every need."

The independent study, in its fourth year, is the only one to bring objective measure to the analysis of corporate performance from an online customer's perspective. It assigns a Customer Respect Index (CRI(TM)) rating to each company. The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.

Care Gets Critical on Orbitz

Orbitz has taken customer service to a new level with the introduction of "Critical" Care Alerts, which notify customers of travel disruptions that could potentially affect their trip. In addition to the automated Care Alerts that Orbitz customers have always received regarding flight confirmations or travel changes, users will now get personalized voice messages from Orbitz Care Team members containing urgent travel information such as weather or air traffic delays.

"Critical Care Alerts allow Orbitz to disseminate travel updates to customers the moment they arise, providing a level of service unavailable through other online travel companies," said Scott Ackerman, vice president of Customer Service and Care for Cendant TDS. "Travelers like to know they're taken care of when they travel. Nearly 60 percent of Orbitz customers proactively give us their cell phone to benefit from our Care Alert updates."

All Orbitz customers who book a flight, rental car or hotel will receive Critical Care Alerts to help them stay informed and make smarter travel plans. The Orbitz Care Team consists of air traffic analysts and specialists in airport and airline operations.

More details on the 2005 Online Customer Respect Study can be found at http://www.customerrespect.com/ .

About Orbitz

Orbitz is a leading online travel company that enables travelers to search for and purchase a broad array of travel products, including airline tickets, lodging, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages. Since launching its website, http://www.orbitz.com/ , to the general public in June 2001, Orbitz has become the third largest online travel site based on gross travel bookings. On Orbitz, consumers can search more than 455 airlines, tens of thousands of lodging properties worldwide and 22 car rental companies. Orbitz was acquired by Cendant's Travel Distribution Services division in November 2004, and is part of the Consumer Travel Americas group.

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