Digital transformation and intelligent automation have completely changed the way customers engage with travel companies including airlines, hotels, and online travel agencies (OTAs). Automating interactions with a chatbot is a great way to empower customers, increase satisfaction, and manage operational costs. The key is to personalize the experience, make it feel human, and offer assistance at the right points in the customer—or actual—journey. Here are 10 ways travel industry providers including airlines can use chatbots to make life better for customers.

Learn More: Why Ada is the #1 chatbot for the travel industry

Make your CX Take-Off With These Travel Chatbot Examples

Travel Chatbot Example #1: Check Flight Availability 

Trying to find a flight that meets your budget, scheduling, and seating needs often involves bouncing between multiple sites to compare options. And if you’re trying to book multiple flights, things get even trickier. But a chatbot makes it easy to check availability—customers can simply tell the chatbot where they’re flying to and from and on what dates and the chatbot does the rest. Connecting to your system of record, the chatbot can retrieve and display personalized flight options quickly. It can even filter results by factors such as price, number of stops, and arrival time. Give travelers all the information they need to make a decision right there in the chat window.

Travel Chatbot Example #2: Break Down Fare Components

Airline pricing can be complicated and most travelers want to know exactly what a fare includes before they book. For airlines and OTAs, the chatbot can provide this information in detail to help travelers make a decision. Fare details include things like class, baggage allowances, in-flight services, change fees, and more. Easy access to information makes browsers more likely to buy.

Travel Chatbot Example #3: Cancel a Booking 

When travel customers need to cancel a reservation, they don’t want to wait in a long queue. Depending on your policies, a chatbot can either automate cancelation or collect the required information in advance and pass it along to a human agent for approval. An intelligent chatbot can understand the customer request in natural language and respond by asking for details such as the name and confirmation number on the reservation. The chatbot can connect to the system of record and let the customer know which trip segments are eligible. Once they've made a selection, the agent can step in and complete the transaction.

Explore Now: 61% of respondents in this Forrester Survey reported increased customer satisfaction as a result of automated service interactions 

Travel Chatbot Example #4: Answer FAQs

A large volume of contact center inquiries involves basic questions that are often repetitive. Don’t waste valuable work hours on these—not only is it inefficient, but it’s also frustrating for agents. Instead, start every interaction with a chatbot that can deflect the common inquiries. This includes questions related to COVID-19 such as health and safety requirements or other pandemic-related changes that could impact their journey.

Travel Chatbot Example #5: Provide Real-Time Updates

Once a traveler has made a booking, a chatbot can keep them informed with instant notifications to their phone viaSMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or even Twitter for everything from flight delays and gate changes to upgrades and other offers. You can even send them information about the closest lounge when they’re in the airport. Your customers want to have the same effortless and personal conversations with the brands they trust on the channels they trust, that's why chatbots make it easier to connect with them whenever and wherever they're most comfortable. Anything you can do to make life easier for a traveler will help earn their loyalty.

Learn More: AirAsia cut wait times from more than one hour to less than one minute. 

Travel Chatbot Example #6: Change Your Itinerary 

Having to change the time or date of your flight can be a real hassle—for both travelers and contact center agents. Just like with cancelation, a chatbot can ease the burden on agents and save customers time and effort. When the chatbot verifies their reservation and pre-qualifies them for a change, the agent can approve it quickly.

Travel Chatbot Example #7: Get Baggage Information 

Trying to find baggage allowance information in the fine print on a reservation or in the FAQ section of your website is not a good customer experience. With a chatbot at the ready, it’s a quick and easy ask-and-you-shall-receive situation. Let travelers know instantly how many bags they’re allowed to bring as well as any size and weight restrictions.

Keep Reading: Chatbots can do more than just answer simple Q&A-type questions

Travel Chatbot Example #8: Modify Booking Details 

If a traveler needs to update their personal information after making a booking, the chatbot can easily connect to your system of record and make updates to the customers record without ever involving a human agent. For example, to change the email address or phone number that's associated with a reservation, a traveler can verify their identity using the reservation number or passenger name record and then tell the chatbot what they want to change. No more long queues for simple requests.

Check out how Ada does this: Zendesk User? Click here. Salesforce User? Click here. Oracle User? Click here. 

Travel Chatbot Example #9: Add a Rental Car

Chatbots are great for automating cross-sell and upsell opportunities. For example, offering the option to rent a car in the destination city after a customer books a flight not only makes their life easier, it’s a chance to increase your revenue—at no added cost.

Travel Chatbot Example #10: Book a Hotel

Flight and hotel reservations go hand in hand. Save travel customers time and hassle by showing them available hotel bookings that align with their flight reservation or other travel plans. You can offer this option at multiple points in the customer journey—right after they’ve booked their flight, or after they’ve arrived at their destination. 

In the travel industry, words like digital transformation, intelligent automation, and chatbots are no longer just buzzwords, they're what's going to set you apart from the competition. Empower your customers, increase their satisfaction, and reduce operational costs by automating their interactions with a travel chatbot. The key is to personalize the experience, make it feel human, and offer assistance at the right points in the customer—or actual—journey. 

Air Asia + Ada

Ada makes it easy to build and deploy an AI-powered chatbot for all your travel industry needs. Empower your customers and reduce wait times by up to 98%, while deflecting 80% of customer inquiries. Schedule a demo today to find out how.