Featured in Airline Business, July 2016: A Messenger-based platform backed by technology giants could rewrite the rules of passenger communication, says SimpliFlying chief executive Shashank Nigam

1. flightglobal.com/airlines July-August 2016 | Flight Airline Business | 79
FORUM FEEDBACK
Mark Zuckerberg told
delegates at Facebook’s
developer conference in
April:“Wethinkthatyou
shouldjustbeabletomessageabusiness
inthesamewayyoumessageafriend.
“You should get a quick response.
And it shouldn’t take your full atten-
tion like a phone call would. And you
shouldn’t have to install a new app.”
The Facebook founder’s vision for
future messaging has potentially seri-
ous implications for airlines.
KLM has partnered with Facebook
to develop a dedicated “chatbot”
withintheMessengerplatform.Asthey
confirm a booking on KLM’s website,
passengersareaskediftheycanbecon-
tacted via Messenger. Once that’s
authorised, almost all communication
between the airline and passenger can
take place via Messenger. The booking
confirmation is sent right after pay-
ment. A check-in reminder is sent 24h
before the flight. Upon check-in, the
boarding pass is sent via the chat inter-
face,whichcanbeusedtopassthrough
securityaswell.Anyflightstatusnotifi-
cations such as a gate change or delay
arealsosentthroughseamlessly.
TWO-WAY STREET
Since Messenger enables two-way con-
versations, passengers can get in touch
with KLM without dialling a number or
opening another app. Any customer
service requests, like a seat change or
upgrade, can be sent as a text message
to KLM. Since the passenger record is
already connected with their Facebook
ID, the airline can make the required
changes without asking for mundane
information like PNR reference or fre-
quent flyer number, making the process
much more convenient.
KLM’s Facebook Messenger integra-
tion allows passengers to access most
of the post-booking services via the
app, without ever visiting klm.com or
downloading the KLM mobile app.
Now that airlines increasingly offer
in-flight wi-fi, it is easy to imagine a
day when a passenger sends a request
via Messenger, rather than press the
hard-to-reach call button.
On average, frequent travellers have
memberships with seven different air-
line loyalty programmes. While every
airline is rushing to release an app, it is
not the most convenient for frequent
flyers to deal with multiple apps each
time they travel. In fact, 85% of apps
that are downloaded do not get opened
a second time after the first month.
If Zuckerberg’s vision takes off, it
would simplify life for travellers dra-
matically. Chatbots like the one KLM
runs via Messenger are meant to help
travellers by providing a convenient,
24/7 interface for the parties to get in
touch with each other, without open-
ing another app. Speed is of the
essence. In an age of short attention
spans, this might be a godsend for
many travellers. Ironically, it is a stark
departure from the digital strategy pur-
sued by airlines in the past decade.
Airlines have invested in a plethora
of mobile apps to help travellers. Most
have just one core app but some, like
Japan Airlines, have released as many
as 10 different apps. While many air-
lines have released apps to keep up
with competition, some like EasyJet
and JetBlue have invested significant
resources in making their apps stand
out. The technology departments of
these airlines wouldn’t be too excited
to learn that chatbots would poten-
tially lead to a dramatic fall in their
native app’s usage.
This is of concern to airlines
because their primary motivation
behind creating mobile apps was to
collect user data.
Traditionally, airlines struggled to
get passenger data due to the travel
agents and GDS intermediaries. Then
came airline websites, which estab-
lished a direct link with the customer
that collected minimal user details.
Finally, mobile apps gave airlines the
opportunity to be in constant touch
directly with passengers, especially
on the day of travel.
If chatbots take off, airlines will have
to re-think their data needs, with the
likes of Facebook acting as intermedi-
aries. Moreover, while the speed of
response is great with chatbots, what
about personalisation? Airlines would
do well not to let go of that “human
element” when it comes to dealing
with their customers.
Airlines need to re-imagine the dig-
ital landscape with the advent of chat-
bots to complement their mobile and
web strategies. Chatbots offer airlines
the opportunity to remain by the side
of the passenger as a helpful assistant,
especially on the day of travel.
With the backing of major players
like Facebook and Microsoft, there’s a
high likelihood of chatbots succeed-
ing. When they do, air-
lines don’t want to be
caught like a deer in
headlights. ■
SimpliFlying
Shashank Nigam is chief executive of airline
marketing strategy specialist SimpliFlying.
His new book, Soar, explores what makes the
best airline brands tick simplisoar.com
Chatbots challenge assumptions
A Messenger-based platform backed by technology giants could rewrite the rules
of passenger communication, says SimpliFlying chief executive Shashank Nigam
“If Zuckerberg’s
vision takes off, it
would simplify life
for travellers
dramatically”
SHASHANK NIGAM
Chief executive, SimpliFlying
The home of Flight
Airline Business on
the web is on the
Airlines channel of
flightglobal.com:
flightglobal.com/
airlines