NEWS from AAA Oklahoma, Feb. 20 2007 - AAA has unveiled a new and expanded online travel agency designed to meet the specific needs of drive travelers, who account for 88 percent of all leisure travel in the United States. In addition, the Web site, AAA.com, provides exclusive services and information for travelers planning worldwide journeys by air, sea, and land.

The new AAA.com offers motorists quick maps and local driving directions along with planning tools and destination information for city-to-city jaunts, cross-country road trips and fly/drive vacations.

In January, AAA was the first to enhance its online travel planning tool with location and fuel pricing information for more than 100,000 U.S. gas stations. The TripTik ® travel planner on AAA.com now allows motorists easy access to local gas station information. AAA’s popular Fuel Cost Calculator (www.fuelcostcalculator.com), a companion Web site, helps travelers budget driving costs based on each individual trip starting point, final destination, fuel prices, and specific vehicle make, year and model.

An exclusive planning tool on AAA.com TripTik travel planner gives Web users direct access to AAA’s proprietary travel information. While planning a trip, driving en route, or exploring a destination, travelers can use the TripTik travel planner to find travel ideas and information by location. Area descriptions provide extensive detail, and colorful icons display specific categories of information, such as sightseeing options, restaurants and hotels.

Web site map icons reveal AAA listings, many with photos, from AAA’s database of 60,000 AAA Approved and Diamond-rated hotels and restaurants, 17,000 attractions, 22,000 events, and 8,000 destinations. Many hotel listings include booking capabilities at best-on-Web rates. Travelers can tap into information and locations for 110,000 Show Your Card & Save ® member-discount shops, hotels and attractions, as well as 8,000 AAA Approved Auto Repair facilities, and 1,100 AAA/ CAA club offices. AAA.com is the only travel Web site to provide complete Diamond rating information.

“We are taking the benefits that have been available for years to air travelers and bringing them to motorists in new and more sophisticated ways that will take online travel planning in a new direction,” said AAA Oklahoma President and CEO Neal Krueger. “For more than a century, AAA has been the leader in meeting the needs of North America’s largest travel segment, drive vacationers, so it is only fitting that we create the most effective online travel resource for motorists.”

In addition to serving drive travelers, AAA.com offers extensive travel agency services,allowing Web users to book hotels, car rentals, cruises, tours, airline tickets, and vacation packages. As a counterpart to the North America destination information derived from AAA TourBook guides, AAA.com provides information on 24 countries and 41 international cities from AAA’s retail travel publications. In some areas of AAA.com, AAA’s 50 million members can access special member-only discounts and exclusive deals.

Since its founding, AAA has been the leader in mapping and cartographic services. Now, with continuous developments in content, capability, and quality, AAA’s TripTik routings are also the gold standard in online mapping and travel planning. AAA generated 17 million personalized TripTik travel routings last year, of which 14 million were created at AAA.com by travelers and AAA travel professionals. 

FEATURES OF THE TRIPTIK ® TRAVEL PLANNER ON AAA.COM

Users can access maps and driving directions (without an address) by selecting from hundreds of routable locations in categories such as lodgings, national parks, airports, cruise ports, golf courses, colleges and universities, and pro sports venues.

• The TripTik planning tool identifies road construction, traffic congestion, and AAA Scenic Byways information.

• The exclusive “ Modify Route” feature enables users to customize their trips using the roads they prefer, taking a AAA Scenic Byway, returning home via a different route, or bypassing major construction.

• The TripTik travel planner provides advisories for winter road closures at major destinations and suggests alternate routing information.