oneworld and Lonely Planet offer travel tips for iPhone generation

17 September 2008

oneworld®, the leading quality global airline alliance, and Lonely Planet, the leading global travel information provider, have joined forces to offer guides, tips and advice on some of the world's leading destinations in an unique and innovative format - available for free.

Their oneworld Travel Stations are being unveiled from today at selected airports across Europe starting with Amsterdam, Brussels and Milan (Linate and Malpensa) where they will be for an initial three-month period. 

These highly engaging, interactive installations, geared at the smartphone and iPod generation, offer travel-related lifestyle content to busy business and leisure travellers on the move - and all for free.  The Travel Stations' appealing design features interactive, touch-screen technology similar to the Apple iPhone.  Travellers can use them before boarding a flight, to access data - text and pictures - and then download useful information, including language guides and audio casts, to their own smartphones, laptops or other devices. 

With tips and advice on where to sleep, what to eat, where to relax, what to see and how to do business, the Travel Stations offer an insider's view on 28 of the world's most popular destinations - all of which can be reached by flying oneworld member airlines.  Information about these airlines and their services is also included in the Travel Stations' databanks.  While the content is geared more towards people flying on business, the oneworld Travel Stations have plenty to offer less frequent travellers too. 

And for travellers whose mobile phones or laptops are running low on power, oneworld is also rolling out oneworld Charging Stations at selected airports - starting with Amsterdam and Brussels.  These freestanding units provide a range of international power sockets enabling travellers to plug in their laptops, mobile phones, PDAs and other similar devices for a power top-up - again, all for free.

      Notes to editors:   

These two innovations are key elements in the alliance's latest marketing communications campaign in its key target European markets, a programme which also features on-line and trade print advertising.

oneworld Commercial Director Filip Lemmens said: "The oneworld Travel and Charging Stations are aimed at building awareness of oneworld in some of our key target markets in a novel, interactive and interesting way. 

"Their attractive and interactive design and the fantastic information provided by Lonely Planet reflect oneworld key virtues - the world-class quality of our airlines, the breadth of their networks and our determination to provide customers with great value and service, at the cutting edge of innovation.  We hope people find them useful and fun to use."

Lonely Planets' Head of Business Development Ushma Patel added: "The Travel Stations are exciting new installations for travellers that can serve a number of their needs while biding time before or between flights. Travellers are increasingly relying on technology to enhance their trips and now they can get up-to-date practical information about a destination just before departing as well as authoritative reviews which you'd only find in our guidebooks."

Destinations featured in the initial Travel Stations include in North America Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver, in Latin America Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, in Europe Barcelona, Budapest, Helsinki, London and Madrid, in the Middle East and India Amman, Delhi, Dubai andMumbai, and in Asia Pacific Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

The Travel Stations were developed for oneworld and Lonely Planet by Imagination, the airline alliance's global advertising and marketing communications agency.

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malev, Hungarian Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, plus some 20 affiliates, including American Eagle, South Africa's Comair, Dragonair, Lan Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Mexicana will join in 2009, with its subsidiary Click Mexicana as an affiliate.

Its airlines serve some 700 destinations in 150 countries and offer almost 550 airport lounges worldwide.  They carried around 320 million passengers last year.  It is the only alliance with any member based in South America, Asia's Middle East or Australia.

oneworld enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own.  These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges.  oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets.

oneworld was voted the world's leading airline alliance for the fifth year running in the 2007 World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by some 170.000 travel professionals, including more than 110.000 travel agents in 200 countries.

About Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet published its first guidebook in 1973 and has gone on to become the world's most successful travel publisher, recently printing its 90 millionth book. Lonely Planet publishes almost 500 titles in English, 200 in Italian and 145 in French.

About Imagination

The world's "smallest big agency", Imagination is an independent, full-service and media-neutral communication company renowned for its liberating creativity.  Founded in 1978, Imagination has grown from a single office to a globally integrated concern, yet retained its essential quality of maverick thinking.  That spirit drives Imagination's ability to define a brand's point of difference and communicate it in groundbreaking ways that connect with today's diverse audiences.  For more information, visit imagination.com.