Like most travel companies, Luxair has had to deal with some big challenges last year, and our top priority is, as always, customer service. How can we serve and compensate travelers faster and more efficiently during times of disruption, and how can we ensure they have everything they need at their fingertips if things do not go as planned?
We want our travelers to know that we value their business, so we have focused all our efforts on retaining and regaining traveler confidence.
We were well prepared for this challenge thanks to our long-term tech partner Amadeus. Even before COVID-19, Amadeus’ open, collaborative approach has given us direct access to some best-of-breed partners, two of which have transformed the way we serve our customers:Stranded Flight Solutions(SFS) andQwikcilver .
Step 1: Maintain Traveler Trust
Our first target was eliminating the long queues at customer service desks and uncertainty that come after a cancelled or a delayed flight. That’s where SFS comes in. We were already using theAmadeus Disruption Management solution
, which is part of the Amadeus Altéa Suite. This takes care of rebooking flights for disrupted customers, but SFS helped us with communication and delivering compensation to travelers. If a flight is cancelled or delayed, impacted travelers will receive a personal, airline-branded email leading to a landing page with concrete next steps on the SFS360 mobile app Communication is either in English, French or German, depending on the traveler’s preference while booking.
For example, disrupted passengers will receive an e-voucher for food or drinks at the airport, as well as an update telling them that Luxair is working on a solution and will be in touch with live updates. And because SFS360 and Luxair are both connected to Amadeus’ Altéa Disruption Management, updates are instantaneous and rebookings are handled quickly.
Depending on the situation, SFS360 allows the affected passengers to book a hotel, get refreshments, access transportation, or receive a refund – all on their mobile phone. SFS360 also gives Luxair the ability to give a differentiated service to its premium passengers who may get five-star hotels to book for example, and they will have access to a call back function, so an agent can give them personalized attention if necessary. All in all thanks to Amadeus and SFS we have a complete, cutting edge solution to manage disruptions with less effort to our business whilst improving the customer experience. So those dreaded queues after a disrupted flight are finally a thing of the past for Luxair travelers.
“One of the values that Luxair stands for is responsibility. And it is precisely In the harshest moments that a company must fully take on all its responsibilities.” - Mireille Welter, AVP Airport Ticketing & Passenger Care, Luxair
Step 2: Reignite the love of travel
Back in 2019, Luxair was already talking about gift cards. What better gift is there than a journey to a new place? Once more, Amadeus answered our call and connected us with Qwikcilver (QC), one of the leaders in gift card solutions which has recently ventured into airline partnering with Amadeus. Qwikcilver quickly got to work, but when COVID-19 came, we had to reshuffle our priorities towards residual value vouchers.
QC was quick to pivot with us, and once more, because both QC and Luxair were connected to Amadeus Altéa, everything was quick and easy to integrate. Within a couple of months, we had travel vouchers ready in case of disruption and easily redeemable online. Since December 2020, Luxair travelers dealing with flight disruptions have the option of choosing immediate cash back, or a travel voucher worth 10% more to use at a future date. Thanks to this solution, Luxair can now better manage its revenues and retain customers in the long run.
With residual travel vouchers in place, we went back to our original plans and set up gift cards, which can be redeemed for travel anywhere, any time within one year of purchase. These gift cards came out at the perfect time: they were an incredible success over Christmas and New Year and proved that, despite the difficulties in travelling today, many travelers are eager and dreaming of hitting the skies again in the months to come. With a recent rebrand, we’re looking forward to selling moreover Easter .
Step 3: Be grateful for innovating together
The year 2020 presented us with great challenges to overcome and this has been a moment of great reflection. If there’s one takeaway from recent events as we look ahead to glimpses of recovery, it’s that industry collaboration means better travel for all.
These projects would have been incredibly daunting without a partner like Amadeus to connect us to these emerging companies, and without the technology in place to seamlessly integrate all of our systems. Thanks to Amadeus, we knew from the beginning that SFS and Qwikcilver had instant access to Luxair’s latest flight information, rebooking options, and purchasing details. We didn’t have to worry about connecting them together - Amadeus took care of this.
If each airline had to come up with its own solution, or if each company had to adapt its systems to each individual airline, innovations like these in our industry would be near impossible. And given the seamless integration with our systems, this also means SFS and Qwikcilver can focus their efforts on working with Luxair to customize their solutions to better meet our goals.
2020 was the year travel companies all over the world came together to solve incredible and unexpected challenges. The innovations we came up with will continue to serve our travelers well into 2021 and beyond. At Luxair, we couldn’t be happier to have nurtured these relationships and we look forward to growing them further.
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