United Airlines Offers its First and Business Class Customers a way to Travel the World for Free

United Airlines is launching a groundbreaking promotion for international travel. United First and United Business class passengers who purchase a qualifying international roundtrip ticket on United for travel between today and September 14, 2003 will earn a free award ticket valid for travel to any of over 650 destinations around the world served by United and the Star Alliance carriers.

“This is a promotion only United can offer. Our global breadth of service is unrivaled. United’s reach is extended through the Star Alliance, the world’s leading global airline alliance,” said John Tague, executive vice president – Customer, United Airlines. “First and business class customers can use the same qualifying trip to earn award tickets towards this offer and United’s ‘Fly Three, Fly Free’ promotion. It’s our way of saying ‘thank you’ to our customers.”

An unlimited number of free economy award tickets may be earned through this offer. Award tickets are transferable and must be used between September 15, 2003 and March 31, 2004. Qualifying international travel must be booked in United First or United Business class. Participants must be either current Mileage Plus members or join the program to qualify and must register for this offer. Some restrictions do apply.

“At United, the customer comes first. We are constantly assessing and evaluating customer needs in order to provide the best travel opportunities around the world,” continued Tague. “This promotion allows United to serve our high yield international customers while still fulfilling our financial objectives.”

To help publicize this global offer, United is launching a worldwide advertising campaign in several different international locations including the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, China, Thailand, Singapore, UK, Germany, France and Argentina. Outside of the U.S., full-page advertisements will appear in numerous publications.

In addition, national newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times will feature three pages of advertisements in their U.S. editions. Similar advertisements will appear in select papers in United’s hub cities, as well as other key U.S. cities. The three-page advertisement will feature a center two-page spread listing all 687 cities served by the Star Alliance network around the world.