Continental Airlines: A Different Approach to Flight Information

Like United Airlines, Continental Airlines has a flight information system. But, unlike the United system, the Continental application asks the user , "Do you know the flight number?" immediately after identifying itself.

The Continental clients chose this design because they wanted to get people interacting with the speech application in an easy, comfortable way. The system then collects the flight number or, if the caller doesn't know the number, the itinerary . Although the application doesn't say so, callers can respond to the first prompt ("Do you know the flight number?") by saying, "Yes, flight 245" ”a very conversational and natural response.

The differences between the United and Continental systems reflect several factors: Different people designed them; they have different calling populations; and each one was designed to reflect its company's brand. Although they work differently, they work equally well. Above all, they prove that there is no single, perfect design for any given application; there can, in fact, be many effective ways to achieve the same goal.