Air France Connect

Air France has launched an entirely new service, free of charge, christened “Air France Connect” to keep customers informed throughout their trip in proactive manner.

Air France and KLM are the first airlines to offer a service of proactive information to their passengers throughout the network on such a large scale.

In practical terms, Air France will inform customers, starting 14 days prior to departure, either by telephone, text message or e-mail of any cancellation, even a delay or change of boarding gate or after take-off of delayed baggage delivery using the cell number and email address provided by customers when the ticket was purchased. This free-of-charge service is open to everyone and requires no enrolment. Initially it is available in eight languages.

With this new solution, Air France takes charge of any problems, providing solutions before the passenger has to contact the airline. So Air France intends to become the leader in customer relations both in regard to managing unknown incidents and passenger handling.

Following two trial periods carried out in December 2010 and January 2011, Air France Connect was launched on 1 February 2011 on the whole of the Air France and KLM networks.

This new service has been widely acclaimed. Text messages are perceived as a well-adapted, communication channel that contributes full, useful information that satisfies most customers.

Before the flight

When a delay is forecast or a flight cancelled Air France Connect sets to work worldwide, round the clock, seven days a week to alert passengers as early as 14 days before the flight and up to three hours before boarding, offering an alternative solution such as another flight or a new flight time. This service is operated by 70 staff members belonging to the Reservation Operations Centre (ROC).

In the three hours prior to departure until boarding, Air France Connect informs customers by e-mail or text message about any delays, cancellations or boarding gate changes. With this new service, Air France is ahead of its time and enables customers to better organize their trip.

Air France Connect is offered in 8 language versions: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese and Rumanian. This service will shortly be available in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Russian.

After the flight

If one or several pieces of baggage are missing on the carousel at destination, customers receive a text message or e-mail offering apologies and requesting that the passenger contact the baggage desk straight away therefore avoiding stress and an unnecessary wait. An Air France staff member will handle the customer’s file.

As soon as Air France has located the missing piece(s) of baggage, the customer is informed by text message or e-mail confirming when and where delivery will take place.

This new service provides customers with clear, precise information in real time.

How does it work?

The information relayed in the text messages and e-mails originates from the Air France operations systems. This information used to be only available on screens displayed in airports.

From now on these messages will be reworked, personalized depending on the event and sent to the customers automatically, free of charge and without having to subscribe to the service. The implementation of this service linking different systems and data bases originating from various airport sources, represented a real technological challenge.

Don’t forget to provide all your particulars

So that they receive a personal alert in the case of an unforeseen event concerning the flight, the onus is on each customer to ensure that Air France is in possession of a reliable means of contacting them by providing a maximum amount of telephone numbers or addresses (landline, cell phone or e-mail) used during their trip.

This confidential information may be included when booking, either through a call centre, an Air France ticket office, a travel operator, web site or by logging on to the airfrance.com website and under your country’s “Manage your reservations” section. This confidential information will be solely used in the case of operating irregularities.

Optimised customer service

By adopting proactive communications, Air France intends to make travelling more enjoyable. Surveys carried out during the launch of Air France Connect show that by receiving prior warning about incidents customers have a more positive impression of the airline they are flying with. In a very competitive market, this new service has allowed Air France to set itself apart as far as customer service is concerned.

Prizes won for innovations and services

The services and innovations developed by Air France for its customers have been rewarded several times in recent months.

For two years running, in 2011 and 2012, the www.airfrance.fr website has won the Travel d'Or award for "Best Airline website".

In September 2010, Air France won the Laurier d’Or prize for Business Travel for the launch of its Premium Voyageur et Premium Eco products following a vote by business travelers.

In June 2010, for the third time in four years, the first prize in the «Customer Relationship 2010 « was awarded to Air France in the «Transport» category by TNS Sofres, Bearing Point and La Tribune. This prize was awarded on the basis of the results of a survey of 4,000 customers and users from 175 companies and organizations in 11 different sectors and based on developments in product offerings, innovation, the quality of contact, transparency and availability of information and frequent flyer policies.

Social media, another way to inform our customers 

330,000 fans follow Air France’s latest news on its official Facebook page (facebook.com/airfrance).On Twitter, Air France teams feed twenty accounts in all the main countries it flies to, to deliver personalized information tailored to each situation: local business news and offers, new products and services linked to the route etc. In France, more than 45,000 people are «followers» of Air France and 75,000 worldwide.

In case of major irregularities, Air France informs its passengers on its various websites. In addition, to better inform its customers, Air France informs fans of any changes in flight schedules on its Facebook page and Twitter account (route closures, schedule changes, aircraft changes etc.), of any commercial initiatives implemented as well as contacts and useful tips.