How Sabre and iCoupon’s agreement transforms flight disruption for passengers
Last week, Sabre Corporation and iCoupon announced an agreement that will lead to enhanced passenger and crew experience during flight disruption. This will see passenger boarding passes remotely turned into digital compensation vouchers in the event of disruption.
Flight disruption has posed significant challenges for the industry, causing inconvenience and frustration for passengers and often resulting in financial and reputational losses for airlines. In recent years there have been a number of high profile disruptions caused by IROPS precipitated by the global pandemic, extreme weather events, and shifts in global power relations. Although these events cannot be controlled, the ability of industry players to absorb the disruption and provide travellers with the best service throughout is a point of differentiation.
Sabre and iCoupon’s agreement looks to minimise inconvenience for passengers creating a seamless path to compensation for passengers, immediately. Corrie DeCamp, Senior Vice President, Product Management for Sabre Travel Solutions said:
“Even with the very best network plan and the most optimal scheduling, unexpected delays and disruptions happen for all sorts of reasons. And when a disruption does happen, passengers expect and demand instant solutions. Providing immediate compensation through unique barcodes on boarding passes that passengers already have streamlines processes for airlines while minimizing what can be a stressful situation for both passengers and airline staff.”
The iCoupon technology enables airlines to turn passenger and staff boarding passes into vouchers that can immediately be redeemed at airport restaurants and retailers. According to the press release, the vouchers will be redeemable at any iCoupon-integrated restaurant or retailers with the mobile or printed boarding pass.
As the industry navigates the complex landscape of flight disruption, airlines are increasingly focused on adopting proactive strategies to minimise the impact on passengers. At this year’s World Aviation Festival, there will be an entire IROPS summit focusing on prediction and prevention as well as customer recovery. Here, the potential applications of technology to mitigate the extremes of disruption are considered as well as the human aspect and prioritising communication with the customer. This summit will feature speakers from airlines including AirAsia, TAP, United, KLM, and more. Get your ticket now to avoid missing out.
