Part 2: Why continued investment in Altéa is paying off

In aprevious blog postI talked about increasing revenues and margins, one of the main areas of focus where we concentrate our resources and investment. Here are the rest.

Manage customer experience throughout the entire journey, from travel inspiration to post travel reporting "In order to provide viable value propositions, airlines must have a better understanding of their passengers’ needs as well as their passengers’ ability and willingness to pay the amounts necessary to fulfill the stated needs" Professor Nawal K. Taneja.

Amadeus is working closely with our airline customers towards the ideal solution of delivering tailored services to each traveller, at all touchpoints throughout the journey.

Here's how we are doing so far:

Inspiration shopping: you've got some time off, but you don't know where to go. Imagine a tool that could propose travel options based on your personal preferences, available dates and budget! Affinity Shopper

does just that. Leveraging the powerful computation capability of the Amadeus fare search systems, Affinity Shopper can provide travel alternatives across multiple destinations and dates, and allows for using frequent flyer points as well as booking fully-paid tickets.

Social media: share information across social media platforms. For example, Facebook feeds at check-in let you view your friends on the seating map and share your check-in information with them. Loyalty and frequent flyer management: In 2013, Amadeus acquired the loyalty IT business of Hitit Computer Services - the market leader in airline loyalty program management solutions. Now called Loyalty Suite, the solutions deliver important services and benefits to airlines. For example, integrating Loyalty Suite with Altéa links customer database information with PSS business rules, so the system behaviour can adapt to each customer's preferences and value. Customer value management

enables airlines to identify priority passengers when faced with operational constraints. Altea’s sophisticated business rules engine allows airlines to create different rules and priority rankings for multiple operational processes, e.g. wait list clearance, seating map, redemption, ancillary services, ticketing time limits, baggage, service recovery, disruption, flow forward. This not only increases customer value but also shifts the customer’s focus of comparison from price to service.

Amadeus Altéa Inflight Customer Service

equips airline crews with tablet computers containing all passenger information, so they can adapt greetings and services according to each individual passenger's preferences. A delayed passenger who receives a complimentary bottle of champagne by way of apology is certain to feel less frustration towards the airline.

Increase efficiencies in airline operations

Efficient travelling makes life easier for us all, and forairlinesit helps streamline operations and costs. How is Amadeus helping airlines in this area?

Amadeus has been a pioneer in delivering self-service solutions (e.g. shopping, reservation, check-in) across customer touch points - web, mobile, and kiosk. Self-service not only empowers the traveller to take control of his journey, it also reduces the workload for airlines.

Digital Channels

Digital channels (e.g. airline.com, mobile/tablet website or application, self-service kiosk) are a key enabler for self-service travel. They provide airlines with the ideal environment to sell to and service customers in a flexible and personalised way, while at the same time differentiating their brand. Broadly speaking, product evolution in the digital channel will be delivered in three categories:

• Customer experience – multi-device, fast, interaction with social media
• Airline business - right content, control, time to market
• Technology – cloud technology, Big Data, adaptation to new devices

To reduce manual tasks further, Amadeus is driving process automation. For example, we recently released auto check-in, a new functionality of Altéa Self-Service Check-in, which enables airlines to automatically 'push' boarding passes to all passengers by email. For the future, we are looking into how biometric technology can fully automate the boarding process.

Managing passenger flow at the airport is critical to ensure the timely departure of flights. Passenger geo-localisation technologies will help airlines monitor the movement of passengers and get them to the gate in time for departure. During flight disruption scenarios, airlines need to process and re-accommodate customers quickly. Amadeus Altéa Compensation Management automatically proposes compensation scenarios based on each passenger individual situation, and will also be available at self-service channels so passengers can re-accommodate their flight and print any meal and hotel vouchers themselves.

Visit ourAirline IT websitefor more details on the key benefits of our Altéa Suite.