The airline industry spends an estimated $50 billion a year on IT and digital innovation. And about 60% of the sector already uses AI for customer service. Carriers have clearly recognized the role advanced technologies can play in addressing headwinds caused by market disruption as well as changing customer behavior and expectations. As a result, they’ve embraced these ever-growing capabilities to augment their offering.

That being said, the level of investment in leveraging next-generation platforms, tools, and data needs to deepen even further to fully unlock their potential and value in optimizing processes and effectively transforming the overall experience for an easier, more cohesive journey.

I joined Scandinavian Airlines’ Mattias Helgesson and Andreas Broberg Henning, as well as CCW Europe’s Simon Hall on the ‘In Conversation with CCW Europe’ video-based podcast series to explore the evolving space the industry finds itself in and how they and other airlines can navigate ongoing shifts in customer needs by adopting smart solutions.

“We are in a unique industry, typically with a long lifecycle between buying the ticket and travel itself. It is also characterized by complexity in the product and the offering, with multiple factors forming part of the overall experience – ultimately adding pressure to make the journey smoother and more seamless,” said Mattias.

Against this backdrop, we will examine the changes SAS and their counterparts have to adapt to and where they should be focusing for the most effective business and customer experience (CX) outcomes.

The Top 3 CX Trends That Can Help Airlines Deliver First-Class Experiences at Each Stage of the Journey

1. Harnessing Self-Service from Pre- to Post-Travel

Customers are more tech-savvy and well-informed than ever before. At the same time, their expectations have soared. This means travel brands need to act as more than just service providers. They need to focus on delivering the best possible experience at every touchpoint and stage of the trip.

But, as airlines know well, that’s not simple to get right when customer demands vary so widely.

“Different customer segments have very different needs, so how can we as airlines adapt to that and present the right solutions to the right customers? Customer-centricity and personalization really need to be at the core of applications, platforms, and tools,” Andreas said.

Increasingly, the answer lies in providing consistent customer service capabilities across channels as many customers today don’t necessarily want to spend time on the phone with an agent.

AI-enabled self-service channels are acting as game-changers in propelling both customer-centricity and personalization. They allow travelers to transact, interact, and engage on the channels of their preference and on their terms for every stage of their trips: from fare quotes to bookings pre-travel, and refunds or claims post-travel. This improves satisfaction levels and drives greater loyalty.

Airlines need to get it right by ensuring self-service processes are intuitive and integrated for an optimal experience. Harnessing generative AI helps achieve this as it allows airlines to answer customer questions and queries on support platforms such as chatbots in a very natural language, and in real-time. Gen AI-infused translation platforms on channels such as chatbots, SMS and emails can then also further support different languages and interactions.

These examples only showcase a small cross-section of how Gen AI can enable and facilitate self-service, of course, but they are a key focus for SAS and already yielding measurable results.

2. Leveraging People, Process, and Technology to Enhance Agent and Customer Experience

“The pace of change and also acceptance of new technologies has become rapid at SAS. There is a strong heritage on digital technologies,” I added.

In an industry with a strong tradition of leveraging tech, other airlines appear to share the same appetite. But digital technology alone is not enough to reinvent the end-to-end travel experience. The key is to implement an ‘Art + Science’ strategy – merging the art of human intelligence and the science of advanced technological capabilities. Bringing together the combined power of people, technology, and processes is vital to enhance both the agent and customer experience at different stages of the journey.

Agents need to be equipped with the tools and insights that give them a holistic view of the customer and allow them to provide a stand-out experience that meets, or even exceeds, their expectations and needs. SAS is currently strengthening A/B testing on its website to better understand customer behavior, for example, so that they can truly tailor a user experience that resonates with their passengers.

Harnessing advanced analytics on the data gathered through various customer touchpoints – contact centers, emails, chatbots, booking history – can also help make engagement more customer-centric and customized.

Integrating and unifying data from these disparate sources, and then presenting it to agents in an easy-to-digest way, is essential as it will equip them with an in-depth understanding of previous interactions and experiences the customer has had with the brand and the most effective way to respond in that specific scenario.

With data-driven knowledge, agents can focus on resolving more complex support cases and providing personalized experiences.

Using AI as a foundational element to automate core processes, particularly for post-travel experiences such as claims and refunds, is another growing priority. The ability to optimize and accelerate traditionally manual processes that may have served as a frustration for travelers can significantly boost the customer experience – as well as that of the agent, since they are able to concentrate on high-value tasks at various stages of the journey.

3. Combining Data and Analytics Throughout the Journey

Similar to how data can boost the agent and customer experience, gathering and unlocking insights through key customer service data and metrics can ensure airlines are able to make the experience smoother and more seamless, flexible, and scalable.

This means combining more traditional metrics – where brands are looking to implement cost cuttings or efficiency gains – with key quality metrics around first contact resolution and self-service, for example, and tracking them in a tangible and sustainable way to create and deliver insight-led experiences.

As a case in point, Scandinavian Airlines has seen that: 70 to 80% of passengers from Sweden and Norway initiate contact through chat, while only 15% of customers from Denmark do. They have learnt that Dane travelers want to pick up the phone and speak to an agent. Browsing habits also differ greatly, with Scandinavian countries spending up to two minutes on FAQs, while in the UK, it’s 30 seconds. It’s clear then that understanding and personalizing experiences based on data and behavior is essential.

“Data is the north star to justify any type of process/technology change or development. All change should be anchored in the data being collected from various channels,” said Mattias.

However, having the proper data foundation is critical to unleashing AI and therefore enabling insight, personalized experiences, and continual learning.

The first step is a robust data management and governance program to ensure data quality and security. Only with proper data governance can airlines enable rich, relevant, and accurate insights that drive personalized experiences and, more critically, build trust with customers.

Taxiing for Take-off

A first-class customer experience driven by a customer-centric data strategy and advanced AI capabilities can provide the competitive advantage today’s carriers need to deliver maximum operational impact.

Airlines can’t afford to get left behind. They need to act quickly to harness the tools, platforms, and data-driven insights that can differentiate their offering and elevate the service they provide to their passengers throughout the journey and across channels. Those that do will uncover new possibilities and deliver measurable results. Watch the video podcast to discover how, like SAS, you can use customer experience as a strategic enabler.