Finnair has launched its first artificially intelligent chatbot on Finnair’s global Facebook Messenger account.
Called Finn, the chatbot knows how to sell flights, knows if a flight is on time and helps calculate how much baggage can be taken on a flight.
It can also redirect passengers to the Manage My Booking page to add more services to an existing booking.
Finn also answers frequently asked questions, and if Finn cannot answer the question, a message will be delivered to a customer service agent for further action.
Like all chatbots, Finn is constantly learning and will later be able to offer new functionality and languages.
Rogier van Enk, Vice President Distribution, Finnair:
“Exploiting artificial intelligence is an integral part of our transformation strategy. We are growing and we constantly look for new ways to improve our customer service and developing new sales channels using New Distribution Capability technology.
“We believe that fast developing digital tools will greatly benefit our customers. Finn understands and communicates in English, but later it will learn more languages and functionalities. Finnish and Chinese are coming up this year. After the initial stage, Finnair is looking to find a home for Finn also in other social media platforms such as WeChat in China.”
Finnair says that Finn is the most technologically advanced NDC-solution in the aviation sector, because it offers the possibility to book flights across Finnair’s network.
It also brings rich product content like videos and images to instant messaging.
Finnair worked with Caravelo, a solutions company for the airline industry, to develop the chatbot.
About Finnair
Finnair is the largest airline in Finland. It’s main hub is Helsinki Airport.
Routes: Finnair flies between Asia, Europe and North America with an emphasis on fast connections via Helsinki, and connecting 18 cities in Asia and 7 cities in North America with more than 60 destinations in Europe.
Fleet: Currently 81 aircraft, comprising:
- 8 Airbus A319
- 10 Airbus A320
- 20 Airbus A321
- 8 Airbus A330
- 11 Airbus A350
- 12 ATR 72
- 12 Embraer E190
(Figures from finnair.com on 26 October 2017)
Passengers: Just over 10.3 million in 2015
Alliance: oneworld
N.B. Image credit: Finnair
