TAM Airlines has been confirmed by Amadeus as its launch partner airline for a new solution that will deploy intelligent and personalised re-accommodation options to enable travellers to enjoy an improved travel experience while offering airlines the chance to save costs and more effectively manage passengers. The launch of the Amadeus Personal Disruption Companion follows the 2013 white paper ‘Passengers-first: re-thinking irregular operations’ commissioned by Amadeus to better understand airline disruption.
Amadeus Personal Disruption Companion, which will be available on a white label basis beginning in 2015, is unique to the market in that it takes a wholly customer-centric approach to managing flight disruptions and puts the traveller firmly in control when flights are delayed or cancelled. It works by understanding and analysing who is travelling and to where, combining this information with preferences such as language and choice of contact. This information is then fully personalised using each traveller’s specific journey and ancillary purchase history, as well as other personal preferences both stated and learned.
Launched in partnership with TAM Airlines, the Brazilian national airline and part of the LATAM Airlines group, Amadeus Personal Disruption Companion was presented for the first time at PhoCusWright’s Travel Innovation Summit, where the solution was runner-up in the Established Companies awards.
Julia Sattel, SVP, Airline IT, Amadeus IT Group, said: “We believe that the market opportunity for the industry to deliver more effective disruption management is huge. Indeed, US airlines alone lost US$7.2 billion as a result of disruption in 2012, while IATA research suggests that airlines that move faster from crisis to recovery could save $455 millionevery year just in re-booking costs. When things go wrong passengers want to see automated and intelligent re-accommodation options and offers that are personalised and bespoke to their unique needs.
“Instead of taking an operations-centric approach to re-accommodating travellers, we advocate re-thinking entirely how disruption is handled with the customer in mind – rather than shifting travellers from a cancelled flight to another, we should understand and respond to how the delay impacts that person and their unique reason for traveling We believe that as an industry there is a great opportunity here to deliver a better travel experience as part of an intelligent and dynamic global travel ecosystem which places at its very heart the ever-evolving 21st century traveller.”
Daniel Limena, E-Commerce Projects & Operations Manager, TAM Airlines, said: “We are excited to be working with Amadeus to develop a solution that will give passengers peace of mind that any disruption will be managed with an efficient, personalised approach. We expect this innovation to lower costs associated with disruption, provide a faster and more reliable response to our customers and ultimately, when things are really challenging, deliver a brand experience we can be truly proud of.”
The launch of Amadeus Personal Disruption Companion follows the 2013 white paper commissioned by Amadeus and written by Norm Rose examining disruption management. According to ‘Passengers-first: re-thinking irregular operations’, 33% of passengers cite insufficient information about what is happening as the number one cause of frustration at times of disruption, followed by 18% of passengers complaining about being given conflicting communication.
