American Express Announces New Features in the Latest Release of AXI, Plus Accelerated Rollout.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1998--

BFGoodrich Selects AXI As Online Travel Booking System, Becoming 100th AXI Customer

AXI(SM), the online corporate travel booking system jointly developed by American Express and Microsoft, is catching on quickly as version 1.5 goes live this month with several new features. American Express passed a significant milestone, in the sixth month of general rollout, installing the 100th AXI site for the BFGoodrich Company.

BFGoodrich joins companies like Polaroid Corp., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. and The Thomson Corporation at the forefront of a revolution that is rapidly transforming the way business travelers hit the road. By the year 2000, American Express projects that 20 - 30 percent of its corporate customers' transactions will be made online.

"More companies are moving to online reservations at a faster rate than we expected, so we've accelerated our ability to implement AXI to meet the rising demand," said MikeMulligan, senior vice president and general manager, American Express Corporate Services Interactive group.

The pace of implementations has increased since the beginning of the year, due in part to the application's architecture, and in part to the expertise of the AXI implementation team.

"Thanks to the speed and flexibility of the web-based application, we've already incorporated feedback from users into new features in version 1.5," noted Mulligan. "For example, business travelers often have to make last-minute changes to itineraries, so now AXI allows travelers to make changes after ticketing - even on the day of departure."

Other new features in the 1.5 release of AXI include:

-- A new gateway area that provides travel-related content, plus information for first-time users on how to use the system and answers to frequently asked questions.

-- The ability to request a car service to and from the airport, as well as frequent flyer upgrades for any segment of the trip.

-- Customizable display options for car rental and hotel companies that give precedence to suppliers based on corporate negotiated rate, the American Express Select rate, followed by others.

Also new this month is the ability to mass-enroll AXI users, relying on multiple data feeds from the company and/or American Express Corporate Card lists or traveler profiles. (Note to editors: for a full list of core features, please refer to AXI product fact sheet.)

Rate of Installations Accelerates

AXI's architecture has proven so robust and flexible that the rate of client installations continues to accelerate rapidly. Installations have grown from the original 20 companies at the end of 1997 to 100 by the beginning of June.

"One of the keys to our success is our outstanding implementation team - people who know both travel and technology," said Mulligan. Implementation at most companies takes just six to eight weeks, including customization of AXI to reflect a company's individual travel policy.

One example of the implementation team's innovations is the mass enrollment capability. "By having the AXI team do this, this was absolutely a time savings for us," said Stephen Berry, travel manager for Polaroid Corporation. "If I had to go in and somehow manually put in 2,200 users, that would have taken forever."

"AXI is the only system that is designed, implemented and maintained by the travel agency that also supports the company's conventional travel reservations," added Mulligan. "This means we can deliver integrated travel reports, keep a central repository for negotiated rates and provide seamless service to travelers."

AXI reaches another milestone this month by adding a connection to the Apollo computer reservation system (CRS). AXI also connects with SABRE and Worldspan.

About American Express

With business travel prices hitting record levels, companies are looking for sophisticated new tools like AXI to help remind employees to stay within company policy at the point of booking. Companies also want a system that secures the best price, including negotiated rates, without requiring a labor-intensive search by a reservations agent. At the same time, AXI gives travelers the flexibility of 24-hour access and more information at their fingertips to make the choice that best suits their needs.

American Express operates the largest travel agency in the world, recording $17.4 billion in worldwide travel sales in 1997. Through its Corporate Services group, the company counts more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers of its business travel, Corporate Card and Corporate Purchasing Card programs. More information on expense management tools from Corporate Services can be found at http://www.americanexpress.com/corporateservices.

The American Express Company is a diversified worldwide travel, financial and network services company founded in 1850. It is a leader in charge and credit cards, Travelers Cheques, travel, financial planning, investment products, insurance and international banking.

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