Last week, United Airlines underscored its commitment to efficient, pre-emptive communication with customers through new text updates, just in time for the busiest Fourth of July weekend on record. Mirroring the transparency that customers have come to expect from other industries, United has leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to provide passengers with “as much real-time information as possible about their trip.”
Although the airline has made transparency a priority for years, the latest innovation takes this to a new level with real-time radar maps. In the press release, United confirmed it is the first and only US airline providing passengers with this type of messaging. The airline detailed how this new update system works:
- Specialised customer service teams sit in the network operations centre alongside the flight operations teams and tap gen AI to review flight data and write customer messages that tells the complete story of a flight change. These messages are sent to customers through text or email in an effort to provide more helpful and relevant information about why flight plans are changing.
- During weather events, messages will include links to local, live radar maps showing weather details across flight paths. This helps customers stay informed on weather-related delays, including showing how weather in one part of the country can impact a flight elsewhere. Plus, customers on all flights can access links to weather maps in the United app under flight status updates, and United displays radar maps in the gate area when a flight has been delayed due to weather.
Jason Birnbaum, Chief Information Officer, United said:
“With more people traveling this summer than ever, we wanted to give our customers an easier way to stay connected to real-time information about their flight and texting was the simplest solution. We know customers appreciate transparency and by combining innovative technology-enabled tools with people power, we can give more people, even more in-the-moment details about their flight.”
For more from United see:
- “What [customers] say they want and what they actually want sometimes aren’t exactly the same thing.” Innovating in line with evolving passenger expectations with Linda Jojo
- “That’s the art. It’s understanding the customer and meeting them where they are.” VP of Marketing and Loyalty, United Airlines
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Delta reimagines the relationship between loyalty and in-flight experience
Look-to-book: the (old) new evil
British Airways launch Amadeus Biometric Solutions to become the first UK airline trialling biometric tech for international flights