Icelandair offers Flight Bookings through Facebook Messenger

Passengers can include a stopover in Iceland for up to 7 nights, at no additional airfare

Icelandair has introduced a new service that allows passengers to search and book a flight with Icelandair directly through Facebook Messenger.

Passengers just open their Facebook Messenger, start a conversation, type in their  information, like destination and travel dates, and book the flight.

They can even include an Icelandair Stopover in Iceland for up to 7 nights, at no additional airfare.

The new Icelandair Messenger Bot requires no additional downloads, plugins or extensions.

How it works

Passengers open their Facebook Messenger, or create a new message on Facebook.

They can locate Icelandair by sending the message to @Icelandair, or going to Icelandair’s Facebook profile and hitting the ‘Message’ button in the lower right corner of the cover image.

If passengers wish to book a flight, they type ‘Book a flight’, or ‘Book a Stopover’ – if they wish to take a break from a transatlantic flight and spend up to seven nights in Iceland, at no additional airfare.

The Bot guides passengers through the process.

For the time being, the Bot only responds to queries in English.

Guðmundur Óskarsson, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Icelandair:

“We want to constantly improve the travel eco system for consumers, starting from the very beginning of their booking experience. Placing Icelandair ahead of the game and making flight bookings available through Facebook Messenger marks our commitment to Icelandair customers. We know what platforms our customers use and want to embrace new ways to communicate and offer valuable interactions with them in that space. Through this thinking we hope to position ourselves as more than just an airline but as a software company and the launch of the Stopover Bot is another step towards our aim of customers being able to book a flight anywhere at any time.”

Developed with research that shows the popularity of messaging apps and consumer insight surpassing that of social media, Icelandair worked with Travelaer in developing this first phase – the ability to book outside their website booking engine. The project’s second phase, additional functionality for enhancing the passenger experience, is currently in development.

About Icelandair

Icelandair is the main airline of Iceland, headquartered at Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík. The airline operates out of Iceland, and uses the country’s geographical location mid-way between America and Europe as a hub to connect European cities with American and Canadian ones.

Routes: In 2016 Icelandair will fly to ten destinations in the USA, five in Canada and 27 in Europe, including Reykjavík.

Aircraft: Icelandair has 25 Boeing 757-200,  1 Boeing 757-300 and 2 Boeing 767-300 in operation and orders for 16 Boeing 737 MAX.

Passenger numbers: About 1 million per annum.

Alliance: None

(Sources: icelandair.com)

N.B. Image credit: Icelandair


Internet links

Icelandair (FI)

Icelandair Facebook Messenger Bot info page.