New customer
services:
Air France mobile
innovations
The digital age has completely altered the relationship between
customers and companies. Nowadays this relationship is in
constant flux. Consequently customers expect companies to
be as proactive as possible and to keep them permanently
abreast of any new developments.
Currently 99% of our frequent flyers use mobile phones that
they carry or keep close to them round the clock. Several
specialist studies* have shown that in 2011, probably the
milestone of a billion customers using mobile internet access
will be attained and that figure will reach five billion by 2016. In
addition it appears that two thirds of Air France frequent flyers
use their mobile phones to surf the internet.
A major player in the airline industry in France, Europe and
the world, Air France has launched two new services, free
of charge, that employ the latest mobile technology:
• "Air France Connect", a new exclusive service, is
available for all passengers worldwide providing open
access without subscription and giving information about
changes or irregularities concerning their trip. This service
applies to the most frequently encountered problems such
as cancellations, delays or late delivery of baggage,
• A mobile internet site and apps allowing passengers to
purchase flights and manage their reservations directly
on their mobile phones.
Virtual mobility embraces spatial mobility thus enabling
Air France to become the first airline to employ the latest
mobile technology keeping customers informed in real time
and in proactive fashion. Thanks to these new services,
Air France intends to define itself as market leader in customer
relations, one of the major objectives of the new joint
Air France and KLM corporate strategy, Embark.
*Sources: Studies led by the Air France KLM marketing department published
in the Figaro newspaper on 14 March 2011
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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Air France Connect,
Kept informed in real time
Air France has launched an entirely new service, free of
charge, christened “Air France Connect” to keep customers
informed throughout their trip in proactive manner.
Air France and KLM are the first airlines to offer a service
of proactive information to their passengers throughout the
network on such a large scale.
In practical terms, Air France will inform customers, starting 14
days prior to departure, either by telephone, text message or
e-mail of any cancellation, even a delay or change of boarding
gate or after take-off of delayed baggage delivery using the
cell number and email address provided by customers when
the ticket was purchased. This free-of-charge service is open
to everyone and requires no enrolment. Initially it is available
in eight languages.
With this new solution, Air France takes charge of any
problems, providing solutions before the passenger has to
contact the airline. So Air France intends to become the
leader in customer relations both in regard to managing
unknown incidents and passenger handling.
Following two trial periods carried out in December 2010
and January 2011, Air France Connect was launched on
1 February 2011 on the whole of the Air France and KLM
networks.
This new service has been widely acclaimed. Text messages
are perceived as a well-adapted, communication channel
that contributes full, useful information that satisfies most
customers.
5,000,000
e-mails or text messages
sent in 2011
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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Before the flight
When a delay is forecast or a flight cancelled Air France
Connect sets to work worldwide, round the clock, seven
days a week to alert passengers as early as 14 days before
the flight and up to three hours before boarding, offering an
alternative solution such as another flight or a new flight time.
This service is operated by 70 staff members belonging to the
Reservation Operations Centre (ROC).
In the three hours prior to departure until boarding, Air France
Connect informs customers by e-mail or text message about
any delays, cancellations or boarding gate changes. With
this new service, Air France is ahead of its time and enables
customers to better organize their trip.
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Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
Air France Connect is offered in 8 language versions: English,
French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese
and Rumanian. This service will shortly be available in
Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Russian.
On-time performance is a permanent obsession
Air France is among the top-ranking European majors as far
as on time performance is concerned.
On time performance is paramount and an objective
measure when appreciating the quality of service an airline
has to offer. Since the start of 2011, over 85% of Air France
flights as a whole left on time or within 15 minutes. 85% also
arrived on time or within 15 minutes.
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After the flight
If one or several pieces of baggage are missing on the
carousel at destination, customers receive a text message or
e-mail offering apologies and requesting that the passenger
contact the baggage desk straight away therefore avoiding
stress and an unnecessary wait. An Air France staff member
will handle the customer’s file.
As soon as Air France has located the missing piece(s) of
baggage, the customer is informed by text message or e-mail
confirming when and where delivery will take place.
This new service provides customers with clear, precise
information in real time.
Air France Connect Key Figures
• Nearly 70 dedicated staff
• A completely automated system for sending customers
text messages and/or e-mails.
• 1,500 flights a day
• Over 75 million passengers a year
• 113 countries
• 230 destinations
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Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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How does it work?
Optimised customer service
The information relayed in the text messages and e-mails
originates from the Air France operations systems. This
information used to be only available on screens displayed
in airports.
From now on these messages will be reworked, personalized
depending on the event and sent to the customers
automatically, free of charge and without having to subscribe
to the service. The implementation of this service linking
different systems and data bases originating from various
airport sources, represented a real technological challenge.
By adopting proactive communications, Air France intends
to make travelling more enjoyable. Surveys carried out during
the launch of Air France Connect show that by receiving
prior warning about incidents customers have a more
positive impression of the airline they are flying with. In a very
competitive market, this new service has allowed Air France
to set itself apart as far as customer service is concerned. It
is an integral part of the Embark strategy which sets out to
offer suitable customer service at the right time as one of its
objectives.
Don’t forget to provide all your particulars
So that they receive a personal alert in the case of an
unforeseen event concerning the flight, the onus is on each
customer to ensure that Air France is in possession of a
reliable means of contacting them by providing a maximum
amount of telephone numbers or addresses (landline, cell
phone or e-mail) used during their trip.
This confidential information may be included when booking,
either through a call centre, an Air France ticket office, a travel
operator, web site or by logging on to the airfrance.com
website and under your country’s “Manage your reservations”
section. This confidential information will be solely used in the
case of operating irregularities.
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
Customized handling for frequent flyers
All members of the AIR FRANCE KLM frequent flyer
programme, Flying Blue, depending on their status and
the size of the delay, may also receive a Miles bonus as a
commercial gesture.
To contact customers, Air France Connect uses the contact
details contained in their Flying Blue profile. Customers are
not required to provide any other information.
Frequent flyers are encouraged to keep their contact details
up to date in their Flying Blue profile, either by going directly
to www.airfrance.com or by phoning the Air France call
centre.
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Prizes won for innovations and services
The services and innovations developed by Air France for
its customers have been rewarded several times in recent
months.
For two years running, in 2011 and 2012, the www.airfrance.
fr website has won the Travel d’Or award for «Best Airline
website».
In September 2010, Air France won the Laurier d’Or prize
for Business Travel for the launch of its Premium Voyageur
et Premium Eco products following a vote by business
travelers.
In June 2010, for the third time in four years, the first prize
in the «Customer Relationship 2010 « was awarded to
Air France in the «Transport» category by TNS Sofres, Bearing
Point and La Tribune. This prize was awarded on the basis of
the results of a survey of 4,000 customers and users from
175 companies and organizations in 11 different sectors and
based on developments in product offerings, innovation, the
quality of contact, transparency and availability of information
and frequent flyer policies.
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
Social media, another way
to inform our customers
750,000 fans follow Air France’s latest news on its official
Facebook page (facebook.com/airfrance).
On Twitter, Air France teams feed twenty accounts in all the
main countries it flies to, to deliver personalized information
tailored to each situation: local business news and offers,
new products and services linked to the route etc. More than
160,000 people are «followers» of Air France.
In case of major irregularities, Air France informs its
passengers on its various websites. In addition, to better
inform its customers, Air France informs fans of any changes
in flight schedules on its Facebook page and Twitter account
(route closures, schedule changes, aircraft changes etc.), of
any commercial initiatives implemented as well as contacts
and useful tips.
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Air France’s mobile website,
I can do everything on my
smartphone
In June 2006, Air France started offering its customers
a mobile version of its website. Gradually, Air France gave
them the opportunity to check in and then receive their
boarding pass directly on their phone. The fully electronic trip
convinced more and more customers. Today, Air France is
launching a complete mobile website with the aim to become
the benchmark on this market.
http://mobile.airfrance.com is accessible from any mobile
phone equipped with an internet connection. In addition
to the mobile website, Air France also offers free mobile
applications dedicated to iPhone, Android and Blackberry
users, with quick and easy access to information from the
mobile website.
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
1,000,000
visitors
every month
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What can I do with my smartphone?
Purchase a ticket
Whether it’s to make a last minute purchase, to plan ahead
for a trip or take advantage of the latest special offer, you can
make a reservation or purchase a ticket in just a few minutes
on all types of smartphone.
This service is available for the passenger as well as for a
maximum of 9 accompanying passengers. Each passenger
must receive their boarding pass on their own mobile phone,
with just one boarding pass per phone.
Each customer may also, if desired, purchase an additional
option (seat plus, excess baggage fee). If payment is required,
it can be made by credit card in a secure environment.
Booking and payment, by credit card only, is completely
safe.
*Flights from Europe, Israel and North Africa and some long-haul flights in
Check in and receive my boarding pass
Manage my bookings
Since 2006, customers can check in directly on the mobile
website and, since 2010, can choose a seat on every flight on
the Air France and KLM networks and for connecting flights
operated by both airlines.
Air France is the first airline to offer reservation changes via
mobile internet.
For some medium and long-haul flights* on departure from
Europe, customers can then receive their boarding pass
directly on their mobile phone as an SMS, MMS or e-mail
from 30 hours before the latest check-in time. This free
service is available on all types of mobile phone and provides
significant time savings. The iPhone application also means
customers can store a boarding pass and have direct access
at any time, even when they are not connected.
At the airport, customers show their boarding pass on their
mobile phone to:
Europe.
The mobile website enables you to manage your reservations
throughout your trip. By entering your reservation number,
ticket number or Flying Blue membership number, you can
decide on your mobile phone to take a flight earlier or later,
cancel your check-in, re-check in and change your reservation.
This change of reservation is free or a sum may be charged,
depending on the terms of the fare originally paid.
The mobile website also enables passengers to be refunded
depending on the fare conditions.
The Air France mobile website is available in English, French,
Spanish, Italian, German and Brazilian Portuguese.
• check in any baggage at the baggage drop-off counter,
• go through the security checkpoint,
• access the lounges for those allowed,
• board at the gate, with optical reading of the bar code,
• board the aircraft, by presenting the screen of their phone
to the crew.
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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Information in real time
At http://mobile.airfrance.com, it is also possible to consult
Air France flight schedules and obtain constantly updated
real time flight information.
An answer to each question
The mobile site provides access to a large number of
questions and answers dealing with various Air France
products and services. This interactive questions sections
(FAQ) enables customers to ask questions in a dedicated
section. The system will analyze a database of 600 questions.
An answer or a list of answers will then be offered, in line with
the request.
Flying Blue at your fingertips
The mobile website enables customers to check their
Flying Blue Miles statement and the details of their latest
transactions. It is also possible to become a member of
AIR FRANCE KLM’s frequent flyer programme Flying Blue in
just a few minutes and join its 18 million members.
The latest technologies at our customers’ service
The mobile website is accessible from any mobile phone
with an internet connection, regardless of the manufacturer,
the navigation system or the operator.
Featuring all the latest ergonomic features of mobile
technology, mobile.airfrance.com facilitates navigation for
customers, despite the small size of the screen. The display
takes into account the specificities of each terminal for
optimized presentation on each phone, with the emphasis
focused on the most advanced phones.
The technology chosen is a website optimized for mobile
browsing and developed in HTML language.
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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Stamping its mark on the latest
market trends
With these two new services, Air France Connect and the
mobile website, Air France is stamping its mark on the latest
market trends.
Air France intends to rise to the challenge of its relations
with customers by communicating with and informing its
passengers in an innovative way, using new technologies.
Its aim is to be the reference of the airline industry in this
field.
The use of mobile internet is developing fast. Within the
next five years, mobile internet should exceed standard
internet and over 40% of the French population will be
surfing on the web from a mobile phone, whereas this figure
currently stands at less than 15%. Furthermore, two thirds of
Air France’s frequent customers use their mobile phone to go
online. Most of them surf the web daily.
• Air France will be placing increased importance on its mobile
services and will be meeting its customers’ expectations
by introducing specific services on the mobile channel to
accompany customers at the airport, including even more
personalized services. These services will be intended to
guide customers at every stage of their time spent at the
airport to facilitate their travel experience.
Air France’s ambition is to gradually expand the functional
scope of its mobile website and its iPhone, Blackberry and
Android applications, to offer its customers relevant services
throughout their trip. Eventually, it will be possible to set
specific alerts (based on the preferences and travel patterns
of each customer) warning them when boarding is starting or
ending for example.
• Moreover, as shown by the applications downloaded
by frequent customers, their expectations are based on
assistance in their daily lives. For this reason, the type of
incident handled by Air France Connect will also be gradually
expanded.
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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Air France’s corporate website available on
iPhone
Air France’s corporate website’s iPhone application is for fans
of aviation and everyone interested in Air France. Available for
free download on the App Store, it offers real-time information
on:
. daily news at Air France,
. ‘Close-up’ videos online every weekend: Behind the scenes
at Air France, Air France’s La Première cabin, Air France and
the great fashion designers etc.
. the latest press releases and press kits: Air France in Africa,
Air France’s A380 etc.
. the practical section “Carefree travel”,
. Air France key figures available in just one click, as well as
corporate information,
. photos and videos also available on the corporate website:
the Air France fleet, the men and women of Air France etc.
This new application is bilingual (French-English) and
completes the corporate website and its mobile version for
smartphones (mobile-corporate.airfrance.com).
Air France Press Office - May 2011 - http://corporate.airfrance.com/en
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