Sunday, June 7, 2015

EasyJet seeks to help stranded passengers with new app

Captured at Manchester International (Ringway) (MAN/EGCC) on December 27, 2007, easyJet Airbus A319-111 (c/n 3118) G-EZBU taxies towards an evening departure.
(Photo by Nik French)   

UK-based low-cost carrier (LCC) easyJet plans to introduce a new service to assist passengers stranded by an evening flight cancellation that leaves them with no way to get to their destination that night.

From the end of July, easyJet’s version of the popular Flight Tracker app will allow passengers signed up for the service to press a button marked “Do you need a bed for the night?”

If the passenger presses it, the app will find a hotel room in the locality that will be pre-paid by easyJet, together with information such as directions to the hotel, whether there is a shuttle bus from the airport and what time dinner is served.

The app is designed to gets stranded passengers out of the airport much more quickly than if they have to line up at a customer service desk for assistance.

“Customer research tells us that it’s not the delay that’s a problem, it’s not having enough information, not feeling in control and knowing what the options available to them are,” said easyJet’s disruption manager, Gill Lucas.

Flight Tracker is easyJet’s primary tool for keeping passengers informed in the event of flight delays and is updated by staff in the airline’s operations center when they know of problems.

“Nine out of 10 of our passengers use online booking, so most are fairly tech-savvy,” said Lucas, speaking at the carrier’s Innovation day session at Milan’s Malpensa airport.

(Alan Dron - ATWOnline News)

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