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A captivating section under Experience is the Fascinating World of the Airport, which should merit a link in the Business section as well, as it makes a convincing case for the attractiveness of Frankfurt Airport as a city of aviation wonders |
GERMANY. ‘Fascinating’ is a word that is pitched and stressed over and over again in Frankfurt Airport‘s web pages, and ‘fascinating’ is the experience that the site attempts to convey via its elaborate Flash animation graphics and navigational elements.
Designed with the Internet Broadband user in mind, the homepage opens up in less than 30 seconds. The homepage takes you to four main sections: the Express Flight Search, Travel, Experience and Business.
The Express Flight Search, a key tool for flight information, is placed prominently in the left-hand panel of the webpage.
Travel, Experience and Business, dedicated to conveying information and a virtual experience, are presented in colourful Flash navigational tools.
The search engine is available at the top of the right-hand side of every page.
The Express Flight Search enables users to do a quick search on flights from Frankfurt to any airport in the world, and vice-versa, by filling out the html forms. It takes less than 30 seconds, for example, to find out about the journey from Kuala Lumpur to Frankfurt.
This section also includes a handy travel planner to get to or from the airport by car, train, bus, shuttle, taxi or rental cars.
Also included are terminal maps illustrating terminals one and two. While the maps are clearly detailed, it would perhaps have been helpful to add interactivity to the gif images by introducing rollover function so that useful information in the form of text or images can pop up when the cursor is moved over certain areas of the maps. This gif navigational tool is easier to make, less elaborate than Flash and, unlike Flash animations, can be seen using older Internet Explorer browsers as well.
For those with time to kill, the Travel section details flight information in a more elaborate manner than that of the Express Flight Search.
The Experience section is a delight to browse through. It details what is available to consumers at the airport via Duty Free & Travel Value, Shops, Restaurants, Open 24/7, Services, Travel offers and Offerings for visitors.
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To celebrate the launch of our new Travel Retail Web-Wide Index, each week we put the spotlight on one of the growing array of dedicated travel retail websites or web sections. Click here or on the image to read the index. |
Duty Free & Travel Value offers an online shopping facility which includes a shopping cart, Wishlist and Pre-Order that enable customers to place an order, pay for it, and collect on their way to the departure gate or at the nearest Duty Free & Travel Value outlet.
Using the forms and search functions, visitors to the website can find out exactly what outlet or services are available at the terminals both before and after check-in.
A captivating section under Experience is the Fascinating World of the Airport, which should merit a link in the Business section as well as it makes a convincing case for the attractiveness of Frankfurt Airport as a city of aviation wonders.
“The man who served Madonna”, for example, is an effective Flash sidebar in this section which tells us clearly the types of individuals using and enjoying the airport. Unfortunately this intricate Flash virtual tour is hidden some three clicks away from the home page under an obscure link entitled Fascination Airport.
Likewise, the most recent duty free offers currently available are also available two clicks away under Duty Free & Travel Value. Perhaps they should be one of the first things to be seen on the home page?
This is an ambitious website that wants to go far. It has the vision, the drive and the technical and creative means to attain that goal. But perhaps the site could make its unique selling proposition evident right from the start, on the home page – and not two or three clicks away from it.
You can experience the Frankfurt Airport at www.airportcity-frankfurt.com.
MORE WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
Website of the week: The Tappoo Group of Companies – 24/11/05
Travel retail website of the week: Korean Air – 16/11/05
Travel retail website of the week: Singapore Changi Airport’s impressive online gateway – 06/11/05
Travel retail website of the week: BAA – 27/10/05
Travel retail website of the week: Sri Lankan Airlines – 20/10/05
