Icelandair Launches the Airline Industry’s First Facebook Messenger Booking Bot

August 3, 2016  | Written by Ari Magnusson

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APEX Insight: Following Facebook’s April launch of B2C chatbots, Icelandair yesterday became the first airline to allow passengers to book flights using the feature. APEX Media spoke to Guðmundur Óskarsson, Icelandair’s director of Marketing and Business Development, about how the Nordic carrier aims to satisfy the needs of passengers who are increasingly using mobile devices to book tickets and contact airlines.

With the launch of its Messenger Bot yesterday, Icelandair has become the first airline to allow customers to book flights using Facebook Messenger. The Nordic carrier incorporated the automated chatbot feature, which was rolled out by Facebook in April, into its booking service as a new way for travelers to search and book transatlantic stopovers in Iceland.

By starting a conversation with @Icelandair, Facebook Messenger users can ask questions like: “What is the cheapest flight from London to New York City in September?” and receive dates, ticket prices and flight itineraries, including the airline’s famous option to stop over in Iceland for up to seven nights at no additional airfare. Icelandair’s Messenger Bot can also provide interesting facts about Iceland or answer questions about traveling with the airline, but once more sensitive information, such as payment details, is needed to complete booking, users are redirected to Icelandair’s website to complete the process.

“Our customers are increasingly using mobile devices to both book and contact us. We see the messenger booking bot as a natural progression.” €” Guðmundur Óskarsson, Icelandair

With research indicating that messaging apps have surpassed social networks in terms of usage, Icelandair partnered with Travelaer, a Nice-based digital e-commerce consultancy for the travel industry, to develop a new flight-booking channel. “Our customers are increasingly using mobile devices to both book and contact us. We see the messenger booking bot as a natural progression in that regard,” says Guðmundur Óskarsson, Icelandair’s director of Marketing and Business Development. “Facebook is already an important element in our service cycle, and the bot is helping us offer a better experience.”

Óskarsson says that, by embracing new ways of communicating with customers, such as launching a messenger bot, the Icelandic flag carrier is positioning itself as not just an airline, but a software company. “We have always put large efforts into being innovative, both digitally as well as with our products and services,” he says. “The reason we are willing to invest in options like this one is it brings additional value to our customers and lifts our services and products.”

“Facebook is already an important element in our service cycle and the bot is helping us offer a better experience.” €” Guðmundur Óskarsson, Icelandair

Does Icelandair have any plans to expand its Messenger Bot to other platforms? Not for now, according to Óskarsson. “We want to be available in places where our customers are and take advantage of technologies that are available to us in order to do that. At the moment we don’t have any plans to move the service into other platforms, but our Messenger Bot story shows that can change quickly.”

While Icelandair’s Messenger Bot is now fully live, it’s only able to respond to questions in English, but the project is ongoing, with additional functionality currently in development. “At the moment it may feel a bit robotic. It’s a new option from Facebook launched only a few months ago, and we are the first airline to develop a booking bot, so there isn’t much experience yet,” he explains. “We expect it to get better and hopefully improve the experience for our customers.”