Malaysia Airlines, together with Amadeus, has launched MHchat, a new feature which helps travellers book flights and pay through Facebook Messenger.
Jointly developed with Malaysia Airlines as its pilot customer, the Amadeus Chatbot for Airlines is a new solution designed to make it easier for travellers to book flights, retrieve bookings and ask questions through a social media messaging platform customers are already familiar with.
Image source: TTG Asia
On Facebook Messenger, Malaysia Airlines’ customers can use MHchat if they want to look up flights or ask a question related to a booking. The bot will search, locate and push offers or information using artificial intelligence.
Travellers can even complete a transaction, make a secure payment and receive the travel itinerary all within the same app.
The Amadeus Chatbot for Airlines can be customised for any airline, delivering customer satisfaction, more revenue opportunities as well as cost-savings around customer care, according to the launch partners.
Amadeus said it will continue to drive technology improvements and bolster the chatbot with new features including multi-language support, adding ancillary services to an existing booking, and integration with Amazon’s Alexa for voice capabilities.
Thanks to advancements in Big Data and Predictive analytics, Chatbots have been making big strides in travel. Just earlier this year, Sabre Corporation launched a pilot programme of an AI-powered chatbot that leverages Microsoft’s Bot Framework and Microsoft Cognitive Services, a set of tools that organisations can use to add intelligent and conversational features to their applications. Sabre is initially piloting the chatbot with the travel agency Travel Services International USA (TSI) and the travellers they serve.
In another case, Incheon International Airport added a talking robot that interacts with passengers, featuring a message programme that enables it to communicate information about the airport’s facilities to travellers.
