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To challenge third-party aggregators, more airlines across the globe are launching their own online travel agencies, also known as OTAs, to stay competitive as travel rebounds from the pandemic. And evidence shows the pandemic is prompting airlines to revamp and expand their third-party service offerings even further. In the post-Covid-19 economy, diversification will be essential for airlines.
Last month, JetBlue announced Paisly, a website that helps passengers who have purchased JetBlue flights book the rest of their trip by offering personalized recommendations for hotel and car rentals, restaurants, theme parks like Universal Studios and much more. Customers simply need to input their name and confirmation number.
Through personalized offerings and an all-in-one dashboard, JetBlue’s Paisly service reduces the number of clicks it takes to confirm a third-party reservation. More efficient workflows lead to happier customers and higher conversion rates. JetBlue is also seeing Paisly as an opportunity to double down on their reward program (a major revenue driver for all airlines).
American Airlines, the largest airline in the U.S., offers a similar service known as AA Vacations, which allows travelers to save money by booking flights, cars and hotels together. AirAsia, for instance, dubbed itself an OTA challenger earlier this year. Its goal is to generate 50% of its revenue from non-AirAsia flights by 2025. AirAsia’s new initiative marks a radical shift from its previous relationship with Expedia, which ended up buying out AirAsia’s share for $60 million in 2018.
Both JetBlue and AirAsia have realized that expanding their ecommerce sites can help drive cross-sell and upsell opportunities, especially if they personalize third-party offerings.
For marketers in the airline industry, this shift should mark the end of traditional customer journey mapping. Instead, marketers must place a premium on customer-led journeys, which take into account factors such as devices used, historical preferences, the customer’s geographic location, customer demographics and more.
Gone are the days when marketing campaigns were launched based on one executive’s intuition. Marketers fail to consider the omnichannel experience because they are siloed from teams such as UX design, development, operations and IT. They must recognize that airline passengers are switching between various channels and juggling devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and airport check-in kiosks. And marketers will need to overcome organizational silos by turning to customer data.
Future travelers will have higher expectations when it comes to using digital channels. Airlines and other industires that double down on offering a superior digital experience have the best chance of seeing profits as the industry reinvents itself in the post-pandemic economy. This is exactly what customers want—a more personalized experience from brands.
