Bell Atlantic Teams Up With Top Travel Suppliers to Sell Last-Minute Inventory Online

Bell Atlantic Teams Up With Top Travel Suppliers to Sell Last-Minute Inventory Online

Feb. 12, 1998

MIDDLETON, Mass. -- In an innovative move to sell surplus travel
inventory online, several leading travel suppliers have joined forces
with Bell Atlantic to develop Extreme Travel Deals^SM, a new online
travel service. Extreme Travel Deals, which offers drastically
discounted, last-minute travel deals directly to consumers, will be
launched on Valentine's Day, Saturday, Feb. 14, 1998.

Extreme Travel Deals is a feature of Bell Atlantic's BigYellowSM, the
nation's leading online shopping directory. Extreme Travel Deals is
being developed in partnership with many of the nation's leading travel
merchants. They are: (airlines) Continental Airlines and United
Airlines; (hotels) HFS Ramada, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Hyatt Hotels
and Resorts Worldwide, La Quinta Inns, Inc., and Radisson Hotels
Worldwide; (car rental companies) Alamo Rent A Car, Avis Rent A Car,
Hertz Corporation and National Car Rental System, Inc., and (travel
agents) American Express and Gallivantour.

BigYellow (bigyellow.com) is the first online shopping directory
offering consumers the ability to book discounted travel arrangements,
in addition to providing travel information. Its Extreme Travel Deals
section (extremedeals.com) offers deeply discounted, last-minute rates
on airfares, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages available for
the upcoming weekend, as well as special offers.

Consumers select their destination of choice (listed by state) and the
type of travel information they are looking for (airfare, hotels,
rental cars, and vacation packages). To book the offer, they contact
the travel supplier through a provided Internet link or an 800
telephone number.

Extreme Travel Deals gives shoppers more power to find, to compare
and to retrieve up-to-the-minute, detailed information about travel
products in specific geographic areas. It also gives sellers new ways
to reach expanded markets for their products by disseminating
information and posting last-minute inventory on the Web.

Bell Atlantic has created an easy-to-use online form for travel
companies to input their deals whenever they want, with built-in
flexibility so merchants can manage their offers any time of day or
night.

"The travel industry is primed to reap the benefits of electronic
commerce, partly because of its sophisticated technology and
communications infrastructure," said project director Jean Fredrick of
Bell Atlantic Electronic Commerce Service, creators of Extreme Travel
Deals. "Electronic shopping not only gives consumers new and
convenient access to travel information, but provides suppliers with
the power to reach millions of prospective customers worldwide quickly
and cost-effectively. Everyone
wins."

"We hope that Extreme Travel Deals will inspire people to take
advantage of the many exceptional travel deals available today," added
Fredrick. "Our goal is to successfully link buyers and sellers
through a global electronic marketplace."

With thousands of advertisers and more than 2 million visitors each
month, BigYellow, based in Middleton, Mass., continues to be a leader
in the online shopping industry in sales and usage.

In addition to its 17 million U.S. business listings, BigYellow
features 100 million U.S. residential listings, a national directory
of 15 million e-mail addresses, and links to directories in 39 foreign
countries. BigYellow has strategic relationships with Infoseek, Inc.,
NBC, CNN Interactive, HotBot and the Mining Company, as well as more
than 40 content partners for the most popular topics on its service.

Bell Atlantic, formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX,
is at the forefront of the new communications and information
industry. With 40.5 million telephone access lines and six million
wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier
providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders
in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory
information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's
largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with
operations and investments in 21 countries.