SkyTeam has launched SkyTeam Rebooking, an innovative technology solution designed to reduce inconvenience caused to customers by flight delays, cancellations, and diversions. An industry first, and more than five years in development, SkyTeam Rebooking is initially available at 43 airports before being rolled out across the alliance’s network over the coming months.
SkyTeam is the first airline alliance to introduce a technical solution for the airline industry that enables access to passenger itineraries across multiple, global reservations systems when passengers are facing an irregular operation. SkyTeam Rebooking overcomes the complexity of connecting different systems. Once fully implemented, frontline agents of SkyTeam’s 20 airlines will be able to access reservations and rebook customers onto another member’s flights using their own reservation platform.
Customers affected by disruption to their travel plans can present themselves at a SkyTeam member airline’s ticket or transfer desk up to 48 hours before departure, to be rerouted onto the next available SkyTeam flight.
“Delays and cancellations are a fact of life in travel, but with SkyTeam Rebooking we are tackling the issue head-on to deliver more seamless service to customers, especially when their journey doesn’t go as planned,” said Perry Cantarutti, SkyTeam’s CEO. “Irregular operations are a moment of truth for airlines and a critical opportunity to demonstrate customer centricity. Since the roll out of SkyTeam Rebooking began, thousands of passengers have been helped by our members thanks to this new technology.”
SkyTeam Rebooking is being rolled out in two phases, with the service available now in 21 countries, across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The second phase, due to be completed in late 2018 will cover the US and Canada.
How does SkyTeam Rebooking work?
1) Customers of any SkyTeam member airline will be able to get help from another member airline’s ticket agent in the locations listed below.
2) When customer seeks assistance at an airport, SkyTeam Rebooking allows the airline’s ticketing agent to quickly access the original or an active copy of the customer itinerary to rebook and reissue an electronic ticket regardless of which SkyTeam carrier sold the ticket or which reservation system hosts the booking.
3) The SkyTeam Rebooking policy prioritizes getting the passenger on the next best available flight, in the same ticketed cabin and airline, on the same day, whenever possible.
4) The customer is provided with a printed confirmation of the new itinerary and an electronic ticket. Rebooking and ticketing on the new flight happens in just a few minutes.
Where is SkyTeam Rebooking available?
- Across the world, at least one airline has implemented SkyTeam Rebooking in 21 of SkyTeam’s major hubs and 22 non-hubs (see full list in table below)
SkyTeam is being rolled out in two phases, available across 21 countries now with Delta planning to implement SkyTeam Rebooking by the end of 2018
Example of SkyTeam Rebooking in action
- SkyTeam Rebooking was recently used by Monika Chatterjee-Hardt, duty officer ticketing and accounting for AHS, the ground handling agent for AFKL based at Frankfurt Airport.
- Due to a flash strike very early on a Saturday morning, Monika and her colleagues were faced with rebooking hundreds of customers at Frankfurt Airport.
- One customer had a KLM flight with a Delta ticket, flying from Frankfurt, through Amsterdam and onto the US.
- Due to the strike they were in danger of missing their connecting flight from Amsterdam to the US.
- When Monika initially tried to access the system to rebook this customer onto a new flight she was not authorized and denied access to Delta’s platform.
- In a situation like this every minute that the customer is delayed, the more likely they are to miss their connecting flight.
- Monika decided to use SkyTeam Rebooking for the first time, by entering a simple code she was instantly allowed access and rebooked the customer in minutes.
- In the past Monika would have had to contact Delta’s ticket office (which might be unattended due to time zone differences) or phone the KLM help desk.
- Ultimately, she would have been able to help less people as her time would have been used contacting several different parties to get this customer on their way.
- SkyTeam Rebooking empowers Monika and her colleagues, helping them to resolve situations such as this one as quickly as possible.
This is the latest innovation from SkyTeam, which became the first alliance in 2012 to offer an aligned series of airport benefits for its top customers when it launched SkyPriority. The service is now offered by all 20 members and is available at more than 1,000 airports worldwide.
