How many times has a passenger coming through your airport begged to switch their seat, because they don't want to sit beside a crying baby or they want to be upgraded to first class?
How many times have those same customers complained when they were told that nothing could be done for them?
Customer service agents spend so much time dealing with these passengers when they have plenty of other important jobs to do to make sure people get on their flights on time. Wouldn't it be easier if there was a way to let customers know as soon as an upgrade or change of seats is available?
With SimplyCast's marketing automation platform, your airport can use a couple simple strategies for letting customers know whether there are upgrades or switching options available on their flight.
Use SMS keywords
Approximately 90 percent of Americans own a cell phone and most of them enjoy communicating with other through SMS messaging. Why not use this to your advantage?
Allow passengers to find out about any seat upgrades by giving them a keyword to text to a number, which will provide them the information they're seeking. For example, if someone is looking to switch their seat, they could text the keyword SEATSWITCH to 555555. Or, if they're looking for upgrade options, have them text UPGRADES to the same number.
In 2015, there were around 689 million passengers on American flights. You may look at this number and think, "There's no way anyone can reply to all these text messages manually!"
Luckily, you don't have to.
Within SimplyCast 360, you are able to write all your keyword replies in advance and have them triggered to send automatically whenever a passenger texts the number.
When the passenger receives an automated text confirming there are options available, then and only then, will they make their way to the service kiosk. This saves both your airport desk agents and your passengers time and patience and allows the airport to run more efficiently.
Or, send out email and SMS updates
Alternatively, you could have your passengers opt-in to receive automatic updates on seat and upgrade availability via email or SMS, depending on their personal preference.
In the SimplyCast 360 platform, you can write your updates in advance and schedule them to be sent whenever a seat opens up on a particular flight. Include a phone number in the message for those who would like to take up the offer.
This way, your airport customer service will be inundated less by questions about seat switches and upgrades, and passengers will feel more taken care of and will look forward to the next time they can pass through your airport.
See for yourself
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of SimplyCast 360 and see how your airport can benefit from automation.
