To shrink friction in the global travel environment, American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) announced the launch of a set of “ flight disruption management solutions”. American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) is the world’s leading B2B travel platform, providing software and services to manage travel, expenses, and meetings & events for companies of all sizes.
Disruption Management Solutions?
Amex GBT says that the disruption management solutions provided by them will aid on-road-travelers in quickly managing flight disruptions, and will also give travel managers insights into the impact of disruptions on their travel programs. To put it simply, ‘flight disruption’ is when a scheduled flight is canceled, or delayed for two hours or more, within 48 hours of the originally scheduled departure time. Flight delays not only irritate air passengers and disrupt their schedules but also cause a decrease in efficiency, an increase in capital costs, reallocation of flight crews and aircraft, and additional crew expenses.
How airline disruption management works
Airline disruption management involves providing customers with real-time updates on cancellations and delays in their flight schedule and enabling them to rebook or get a refund on their tickets during flight disruptions either on their own or by interacting with a customer support representative or chatbot. Mark McSpadden, Vice President of Product Strategy and User Experience at Amex GBT, said “As business travelers get back on the road, companies are putting more stock into the end-to-end travel experience. They want to reduce travel friction while giving employees more autonomy to plan, book and modify trips. We have prioritized developments that expand our unique proactive assistance services. Today, they deliver more actionable information and more convenient ways for travelers to stay connected to everything they need at every stage of their journey.”
Disruption Management – A boon for airlines
As helpful as it is for on-road travelers, flight disruption management can be a boon for airline companies. Due to the competitive nature of the airline sector, airlines must constantly reimagine the customer experience that they are serving. A large part of a great customer support experience is the effectiveness with which the companies are managing the disruptions. A number of complications may arise while handling a flight disruption, but it shall be in the airline’s best interest to prioritize their customers. Most customers expect prompt updates about delays or cancellations and failing to do this will result in bad reviews on the internet, considering how heavily mediated society is at the moment.
A peek into Amex GBT’s disruption management
Amex GBT’s Proactive Traveler Care (PTC) can send suggestions to travelers for alternative flights in case of disruptions. Travelers can even connect with travel counselors via Whatsapp now, in addition to Amex Mobile App channels.
PTC service constantly monitors travelers’ trips and contacts them as soon as a trip is delayed or canceled using an automated messaging system. The interaction can take place at the travelers’ convenience, in their preferred channel, with quick access to options across carriers. In the Amex GBT Mobile app, travelers can now share real-time trip changes with friends, partners, colleagues, and clients via their preferred channel.
Amex GBT’s cloud-based reporting tool will have a new dashboard called ‘Insights’ where travel managers can track the impact of disruptions on their customers and improve their services. This information includes the number of flights impacted, the percentage of travelers engaging with PTC, and the airlines most affected.
As flight disruptions are commonplace when it comes to traveling, disruption management can be a tool to maximize customer satisfaction, maintain comfortable transit, and minimize the friction caused.
