Kenya airways has adopted a chatbot to help answer questions from an unusually high number of customers regarding flights. There has been a dramatic increase in queries from customers since the flights became grounded following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya.
The chatbot responds to a number of airline cases such as book a flight, manage my booking, get a boarding pass, acknowledgement and/or rebooking of a cancelled flight and FAQs.
The airline is currently working with a customized version that answers Frequently Answered Questions around this Covid-19 pandemic period. Questions include: Is it safe to fly? Can I cancel my flight?
The bot has is expected to reduce the time customers spend on phone trying to get to an agent and also reduce the stress of agents at the Kenya Airways call centre who have been under pressure to deal with numerous queries of similar nature, almost simultaneously. KQ hopes the bot will enhance the customer experience by offering a smart and convenient channel for communication.
Read: KQ Posts Ksh12.9 Billion Loss For The Year Ending December 2019
The chatbot is currently available for queries in English and can answer up to 73,000 questions.
Amadeus, the developers of the chatbot, are now planning to upgrade to a multilingual chatbot and include more functionalities such as booking, ticketing and servicing.
“We are very pleased to be the first African carrier to adopt this solution, as we believe in offering our customers value through innovative technology. Moving forward, chatbots will only become increasingly relevant– ultimately, automating the most frequent questions means agents can prioritize their time to focus on the more complex issues.” Said Kenya Airways Head of IT, Henry Obare in a Blogpost.
Chatbots are already a trend around the world, especially with the younger generation. They have also been used heavily in the dissemination of information especially during this Covid-19 pandemic period on multiple networks including Facebook messenger and whatsapp.
According to Obare, Chatbots will allow Kenya Airways engage with their clients and meet their demands.
“By increasing customer satisfaction, we will also boost loyalty which will be essential to strengthen our position in the longer term when travel demand returns.” Obare noted.
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