American Airlines

American Airlines are the world’s third largest airline operating across North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific, with a fleet of 630 aircraft, travelling to over 230 worldwide destinations.

Scope of Requirements

Even though the vast majority of American Airlines’ ticket sales are made via the internet or travel agents, the airline considers the telephone a critical “touch point” with its customers. Given the huge volumes involved it had three key objectives:

• To harmonize call collection and management of passenger ticket sales and general enquiries into its in-house or off-shore 3rd party call centre(s).
• To replace costly international 1-800 toll free telephone services with more cost effective alternatives.
• To provide a uniform ‘customer journey’ for all passengers irrespective of where they are located, i.e. calling when already in transit or on holiday.

Local Non Geographic Numbers were deployed in each of American Airlines’ major pan-European markets…

Solution Provided

Local Non Geographic Numbers were deployed in each of its major pan-European markets, all sourced under a single contract. These allow for filtering / segmentation of calls prior to their delivery to the off-shore call centre staff and highly responsive load-balancing to US based call centers in peak periods. Real-time reports viewed on-line, allow the airline to see what is happening in each country of operation.

Financial Benefits

The airline achieved approx 100% cost reduction as opposed to its previous use of toll-free services, since the local “Non Geographic Numbers” generate a small income stream that is used to pay for the overall operating costs of the solution

Consumer Benefits

Consumers gain access to knowledgeable telephone-based support to manage ticket sales and change flight itineraries, all for the cost of a local phone call. Critically, these changes incurred no new costs for the passenger as many already use mobile / cell phones to call (and 800 toll free calls are never free from a mobile).