Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) has “revolutionized” the booking process for ‘Round the World’ tickets, according to the oneworld airline alliance, which counts American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific amongst its dozen-plus global members.
Using the Elemental Cognition AI Platform powered by Google Cloud, oneworld says its innovative AI travel agent is a “game changer” that streamlines the process of booking intricate flight itineraries, while addressing complex product rules and fluctuating flight availability.
With the help of intuitive state-of-the-art AI technology, the new booking tool guides users in crafting elaborate itineraries that often involve multiple airlines, at the same time providing reliability, accuracy, and transparency, thereby significantly enhancing the customer experience.
The booking platform employs a neuro-symbolic AI architecture to solve complex problems with mathematical precision that captures all oneworld airlines’ global fare rules, creating a robust AI agent capable of planning a bookable round-the-world travel itinerary.
Developed over the past months, the multi-modal AI ticketing agent, which operates globally in real time with fares include all oneworld airlines, hundreds of destinations, and millions of flight combinations.
oneworld notes that traditional airline booking engines struggle with these complex booking journeys, which can involve up to 16 stages, whereas the smart oneworld AI travel agent reliably overcomes this complexity, significantly enhancing the booking process.
“Elemental Cognition and Google Cloud have enabled us to create a smart and intuitive tool that has transformed the oneworld round-the-world booking experience,” says Roger Blackburn, oneworld VP, Europe. “Since its introduction, we’ve witnessed a fivefold increase in conversions. This powerful application improves and simplifies booking, making it more enjoyable for (users)… regardless of the complexity of their flight requirements.”
Matt Demmler, Chief Commercial Officer of Elemental Cognition, added, “Customers rely on Elemental Cognition to solve complex problems with AI when precision is paramount. oneworld was an ideal partner because they needed to help customers build complex travel plans that are 100% accurate and optimal based on changing preferences and business constraints.”
Blackburn further noted, “Elemental Cognition impressed us with their ability to decode our complexity. They ingested a year’s worth of global airline schedules and our rules, recorded in various formats, to build a customized solution that our customers could engage with in natural language. This approach to solving the problem was unprecedented.”
Carrie Tharp, VP, Global Solutions & Industries, Google Cloud, said: “This collaboration showcases the power of AI and cloud technology to solve real-world challenges and enhance customer experiences in the travel industry.”
With oneworld celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, its member airlines together operate over 4.5 million flights, carrying more than 500 million passengers annually. It’s Virtual Agent tool to book a round-the-world journey can be found at oneworld.com