feels provides it with a significant competitive advantage. Some AA technology highlights: 1960s : American Airlines developed SABRE, the first totally automated computer reservations system, allowing American to match a seat sold on one of its flights to an individual customer.

1970s : SABRE enabled American to develop highly segmented lists of its customers. American gained access to up-to-date home addresses by having a marketing firm match frequent traveller names and phone numbers on these lists with home addresses.

1981 : American launched the industry's first frequent flyer program, AAdvantage Travel Awards, allowing the airline to recognise and reward its best customers for their loyalty to the airline. American was able to pre-enroll 283,000 of its travellers, because it had created an extensive customer database.

1982 : AAdvantage Gold was created for customers who travel 25,000 qualifying miles during the calendar year.

1988 : Membership in the AAdvantage program expanded to 7 million customers.

1992 : AAdvantage Platinum was created for customers who travel 50,000 miles during the calendar year.

1994 : American introduced the AAdvantage dining programme.

1995 : American experimented with cable TV to broadcast flight arrival and departure times, gate information and destination weather, and broadcasts CableSAAver fares for weekend travel to 70,000 consumers. This information comes directly from SABRE and is broadcast through a cable channel.

Also in 1995, the first American Airlines Web site was launched, providing corporate, AAdvantage and passenger information.

1996 : In March, American introduced Net SAAver Fares, the first e-mail service of its kind. By spring, the site offered online fare quotes and flight and gate information.

In June, a redesigned web site was launched. Also during June, the online reservations tool was added. Before the end of the year, customers could check their AAdvantage account status and mileage levels using the Web site. In addition, American began advertising on the Internet.

1997 : American introduced College SAAver Fares on its Web site. Through College SAAvers, the airline offered fare specials and contests for the rapidly growing college travel market.

1998 : AAdvantage Travel Awards programme grew to more than 31 million members worldwide. By the end of May, American's Web site had registered more than 650,00 customers -- over 6 million page views per week and more than 6,000 unique logins daily.

The Net SAAvers e-mail list reached 1.6 million subscribers, making the programme the largest e-mail service of its kind on the Internet. American rewards customers who book round-trip travel online with up to 1,000 bonus AAdvantage miles.

In June, American unveiled its all-new AA.com, a completely redesigned web site that draws on AAdvantage customer information and an extensive content base to offer personalised messaging. Now, the site instantaneously displays information that is personalised according to customers' preferred airports, destinations and interests. The site also offers a faster, simpler reservation tool, streamlined navigation and a completely new visual appearance.

1999 : AA.com became the first airline site to qualify for the BBBOnLine privacy seal, a symbol identified by growing numbers of consumers as safeguarding customer information and transactions online. AAdvantage Travel Awards programme membership grew to 38 million. Monthly site visits reached nearly five million. AA.com received more than 350,000 visits on peak days.

American Airlines staff give dedicated service to their customers. From the left: Joanie Burrows, Claudette Ford, sales manager, Terry-Lynn Symonds and Shirley Daniels.