Excerpt from Anchorage Daily News
Annette Johnson thinks the travel industry is taking self-service too far. She’s watched airlines drop their phone support and add fees for airport check-ins that use a human agent. Some air carriers are even tearing out their kiosks and prodding passengers into using a phone app at the airport.
“It feels like you’re being punished if you need a little help,” says Johnson, a travel advisor based in Colorado Springs, Colo. “I hate that.”
The trend started earlier this year when Frontier transitioned to “fully digital” communications by eliminating its phone center. Last month, Alaska Airlines removed check-in kiosks at nine airports and told customers to use Alaska’s app to download boarding passes or print them at home. It’s part of Alaska’s $2.5 billion plan to reimagine “a more seamless” travel experience.
All this is happening against the backdrop of the AI revolution, which is spreading quickly in the travel industry. Expedia last month a new in-app travel planning experience powered by ChatGPT, which allows users to get travel recommendations from an AI. Kayak also said it would begin using ChatGPT to help customers plan trips. These developments promise to remove human advisors from the travel planning process almost completely.
Travelers are lukewarm to the idea of automation. A recent study by travel technology company Travelport shows most travelers (77%) have already interacted with a chatbot, although it doesn’t specify if the exchange was positive or negative. It’s not hard to guess: Three-quarters of respondents still want the option of talking to a person.
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