Thursday, July 25, 2024
Reading Time: 3 minutes“Our platform’s resilience allowed passengers to receive immediate assistance despite the outage,” Tara Spielhagen, CEO of Swiipr remarked. “We observed a 229% increase in payouts, underscoring the importance of flexible digital solutions in handling travel disruptions.” She highlighted Swiipr’s capability to provide reliable support, significantly enhancing customer satisfaction during unexpected events.
Extraordinary events, such as natural disasters, strikes, and IT system outages, are beyond the control of airlines. Regarding last week’s global outage, early messages from airlines suggested it was being treated as an extraordinary event. The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has reportedly taken a similar stance. Consequently, it is unlikely that delayed passengers will be entitled to compensation under EU regulations, though they will still receive assistance as airlines work to get them to their destinations.
Even if not legally required, airlines can show goodwill by issuing ex-gratia payments. This approach enhances customer retention and loyalty, demonstrating the airline’s commitment to passenger satisfaction.
During extended delays, even in extraordinary circumstances, passengers are entitled to assistance. In the United Kingdom and other European countries, airlines must provide passengers delayed by more than two hours (three hours for long-haul) with food and drink, communication means, accommodation if delayed overnight, and transport to that accommodation. In practice, during significant disruptions, ground staff can be overwhelmed, often leading passengers to pay out of pocket and claim reimbursement later.
Compensation terms for flight delays vary worldwide. In the US, it was only in April that the Department of Transportation mandated refunds for flight cancellations or significant changes. Previously, passengers depended on each airline’s policy. In Australia, passenger rights heavily rely on airline terms and conditions, especially for events outside airline control, unlike the more robust protections in the UK and EU.
Swiipr enables airlines to provide instant compensation payouts through physical or virtual prepaid cards, which passengers can add to their mobile wallets via Apple Pay or Google Pay. Partnered with Mastercard, Swiipr cards can be used at any outlet inside and outside airports. These cards are useful for food and beverage payments during delays, as well as larger compensations for lost baggage, denied boarding, and hotel or transport payments.
Airlines maintain control over the system, ensuring security as cards have no value until loaded by staff at the point of delay. Airlines can set parameters for fund usage, such as restricting to food outlets or extending to hotels and taxis, and determining the validity period.
Swiipr’s platform includes compliance features, automatically incorporating applicable regulations and airline policies, tailoring assistance to each passenger. This reduces the stress on ground staff, who otherwise would have to manually calculate entitlements.
The finance department benefits as well, no longer needing to handle error-prone processes like bank transfers or vouchers. Swiipr’s digital system reduces claim processing costs by about 60% and provides immediate transaction reporting, unlike legacy systems that take 60-90 days.
Swiipr’s systems operated independently during the global outage, allowing airlines to issue compensation seamlessly. Data since the outage shows a 229% increase in Swiipr payouts by airline partners, demonstrating Swiipr’s ability to maintain service continuity.
Swiipr offers several advantages over traditional paper vouchers. Funds can be used anywhere that accepts Mastercard, both inside and outside airports, and are reloadable. Paper vouchers are unfriendly to passengers, retailers, and the environment. Swiipr’s digital system significantly reduces processing costs and fraud risk, and supports immediate fund usage and detailed reporting.
The recent global outage underscores the need for robust compensation systems. Swiipr’s digital platform offers a reliable solution for managing compensation payouts, enhancing passenger experience and operational efficiency. As airlines continue to digitize operations, innovative solutions like Swiipr are essential for meeting growing passenger expectations for prompt and fair compensation.