Popular airlines, including Emirates, Lufthansa, and AirAsia, have adopted chatbots for various purposes, such as flight booking, baggage tracking, and customer support.
Despite the use case and application, the goal of integrating a chatbot for airlines is to improve customer experience and enhance satisfaction. And people also opt for chatbots to get personalized and quick answers.
Let’s uncover the use cases and benefits of airline chatbots and how they are revolutionizing the industry. We’ll also take a look at how you can create your own chatbot for airlines and make your customers happy.
Part 1: Airline Chatbot Benefits
Airlines opt for chatbots because of the following benefits.
- Quick Response: In the airline industry, customers do not like to wait. They need quick answers to their queries to schedule their travel. Chatbots instantly offer solutions, which is why they are preferred.
- 24/7 Multilingual Support: Chatbots can serve customers 24/7 and answer questions in various languages. Therefore, people from different countries and regions can easily communicate.
- Personalized Experience: The response of chatbots is personalized. It’s based on the customer query, which offers a personalized experience to the customer.
- Customer Satisfaction: Customers get their issues resolved in no time. Chatbots also assist them in booking flights, checking their status, etc. All these things increase customer satisfaction.
- Minimal Cost: Airline companies need fewer human representatives when they have chatbots. It reduces the cost of operation and allows them to serve global customers.
Part 2: Chatbot for Airlines: 8 Real Life Use Cases
Most airlines have integrated chatbots on their websites and applications. They are commonly used for the following purposes.
1 Information
People frequently use chatbots to get information about airline companies, airport navigation, flights, etc. It is more convenient and quicker.
With human representatives, some people get embarrassed after asking multiple questions. But in the case of chatbots, people can ask anything they want and as many times as they need without getting embarrassed.
AI chatbots offer personalized answers and tailored responses according to the needs of the customer. They assist better than normal chatbots that send only pre-written answers. Simply put, they answer like human representatives and solve complex issues.
💡 We asked a chatbot for airlines to tell us about the availability of flights.
The chatbot provided the details of departure, arrival, and the ticket prices of different flights. We can even ask specific questions, such as “Is there any flight available from Beijing to Istanbul at 3 PM on 21st November?”
Travel agents can also use chatbots for airlines to get the latest updates, guide their customers and schedule their travel.
Within a matter of seconds, you get the answer you need. That’s the reason people prefer Airline chatbots.
2 Flight Booking
Imagine you want to book a flight in an emergency. There are multiple ways to book a flight; calling a travel agent, checking out different websites, talking to an airline representative, etc. However, the quickest way to book a flight is with an airline chatbot.
You just need to provide the departure and arrival locations, date, and timing. Within a few seconds, it will show the available flights you can book right away. Select the one you need, provide the required information, and your flight is booked.
Chatbots make the whole process extremely quick and easy. They show all the available options, so you have plenty of choices. Plus, you can compare the price and other details.
💡 Here’s how we used a chatbot to book a flight
With one click, we can book a flight. We only need to provide the required information, and the flight will be booked without wasting time and paying someone an extra fee.
Therefore, people usually ask a chatbot about the available flights. They even ask for cheaper flight options, shortest routes, direct flights, etc.
3 Flight Status
After booking a flight, passengers need real-time updates. If there is any delay, cancellation, or other issues, they must get to know it quickly.
An airline chatbot can also assist with real-time flight status. Users can ask at any time to know if everything is well.
💡 We asked about the status of a flight from an airline chatbot. Here’s the answer.
The chatbot told us about the delay as well as the new departure and arrival time. Similarly, if there are other issues, the status is updated in real-time.
Moreover, some chatbots also alert passengers through emails and messages. They automatically send the updates to their contacts. These things enhance passenger satisfaction.
4 Rescheduling and Cancellation
Passengers often need to reschedule or cancel their flights. It is an extremely tough process for them as well as the airline.
Chatbots can make it pretty simple and quick. Passengers need to tell the chatbot about the flight they booked and what they need to do. If they want to reschedule it, they can ask for the available flights that they can pick.
💡 The chatbot will reschedule the flight and charge the rescheduling fee if there is any. Here is an example of a chatbot rescheduling a flight.
Similarly, chatbots help in canceling flights. They can cancel according to the policies of the airline company. It automates the whole process and makes everything easier for the company and passengers. If the ticket was eligible for a refund, it can also process the refund amount to the passenger’s account.
5 Check-in and Boarding Passes
Another benefit of chatbots for airlines is to assist with check ins and boarding passes.
Passengers would never like to stand in long queues for the check-in. They can avoid every hassle by checking in with the help of a chatbot.
They can provide the booking reference number (PNR), password/ID, and other details. Once they are verified, they can select the seats. They can state the number of bags they have and their weights. Their check-in process becomes hassle-free. Keep in mind that baggage tags are generated at the airport or self-service kiosks.
Passengers can also receive boarding passes through a chatbot. They can receive it at their email address or the airline application. It makes the whole process easier and more convenient.
6 Baggage Tracking
When passengers travel by flight, they are often worried about their baggage. It is because of the incidents that happened to various people, such as baggage lost, left at the airport, etc.
Passengers would prefer to ensure that their baggage has been loaded to the carrier and where it is. An airline chatbot can assist with baggage tracking. It only needs the baggage number and other information to track the baggage. It offers real-time updates about the baggage so that customers feel satisfied.
💡 We asked an airline chatbot about baggage to know if it had been checked in or not.
Baggage loss is a massive issue. Passengers get frustrated when they hear their baggage is lost. But they get more irritated when they are unable to track. Chatbots can handle such cases carefully. They can tell where the baggage is at this moment and when it will reach the destination through the next available flight.
💡 We asked an airline chatbot to find our lost baggage and give us every piece of information about it.
7 Marketing and Promotions
Airline chatbots can also do marketing and promotion. Firstly, it can send promotional messages and emails to existing customers. It can send discount coupons and deals to attract customers.
In many airlines, there are loyalty programs. Passengers can ask about their points, rewards, and other details through the chatbot. It can help them redeem their travel points into rewards that could be discounts, cash, etc. Chatbots not only handle these programs but also increase customer engagement and signups.
Most importantly, airline chatbots can assist with travel planning. It can recommend destinations, hotels, activities, etc. It can even create a travel plan for the customers.
Suppose someone enters a travel destination and asks the chatbot to create a customized travel plan.
💡 We asked a chatbot to create a 15-day travel plan to Istanbul. Here’s the result.
Along with the travel plan, the airline can recommend the cheapest flights, hotels, and other options. It can do upselling and cross-selling, such as getting seat upgrades, priority boarding, booking hotels, etc.
8 Complaints and Feedback
Passenger complaints are a bit difficult to handle. It’s a tedious and frustrating job for customer representatives. And passengers need a quick resolution.
Chatbots can also handle the complaints of passengers. They can understand the emotions behind them and solve issues without irritating customers.
It can register complaints from customers and then pass them over to human representatives for further action. It makes the whole process quick and makes sure the customer stays satisfied.
Along with complaints, a chatbot for airlines can collect feedback. They can ask the customer about their experience with the flight. It’s quite helpful for the improvement of overall service.
💡 Here’s the feedback we gave to an airline chatbot.
Integrate an Airline Chatbot
You can integrate an airline chatbot into your website, application, social media, messaging application, or other platforms.
GPTBots empowers you to create a chatbot from scratch, train it according to your needs, and integrate it into your website. You can do everything without coding or prior experience or expertise. The above chatbots in the use cases were made and trained through GPTBots. Create an account and start making your chatbot in no time.
Build A Chatbot
Part 3: How Do Airlines Build An AI Bot for Flight Booking?
Creating a chatbot through GPTBot is extremely simple. You just need to follow the simple steps below.
Step 1: Open your browser, go to GPTBots.ai, and create a new account.
Step 2: Click New Bot. You can either choose from a template or create a bot from scratch. For now, click Create from Blank.
Step 3: Enter the name of the chatbot and description. Click Create.
Step 4: Select the LLM model according to your needs. You can also adjust the parameters. In the Identity Prompt, enter the skills of airline chatbot, such as Flight Booking and Complaint Handling.
Step 5: On the left, click Knowledge Base and go to Documents. Click Create Knowledge Base. Enter the name of the knowledge base and a short description. Click OK. Add existing documents and information in the form of text, excel sheets, files, URLs, etc.
Step 6: The airline chatbot will learn from the data. It will be trained in no time. Go to the Config panel and test your chatbot through Debug.
Step 7: The last step is integration. Go to the panel and select the desired platform. Follow the steps and complete the integration process.
GPTBots can make this process even simpler. It provides expert support throughout the process and even builds the entire bot according to your needs. That said, your chatbot for airlines will be ready without any effort.
Conclusion
A chatbot for airlines can handle a massive number of customer queries, assist them in flight booking, process booking/cancellations, issue refunds, track baggage, and do tons of things. It reduces the burden on human representatives and takes customer experience to the next level. Passengers get their issues resolved and queries answered in almost no time.
If you also want to integrate an airline chatbot into your website, application, social media, etc., GPTBots AI Agent for Airlines is an excellent choice. It empowers you to create a personalized chatbot without any coding. Sign up for the GPTBots account and get 100 free credits every month.