Airlines Put Facebook Messenger Chatbots to Work Answering Easy Questions

Every day, 10,000 customers contact Aeromexico to ask questions, and many — such as "Is there a charge for checking a bag?" — are so simple they don't require a human response. So about a year ago, Aeromexico started using a Facebook Messenger chatbot to answer these types of questions, loading an artificial intelligence "brain" with 500 common responses, chosen from Facebook, Twitter, and telephone transcripts. The platform serves about 1,000 Spanish-speaking customers per day, handling roughly as many inquiries as two full-time employees could but at a cheaper cost. "It's able to interpret any of the ways that any human could ask questions and determine what they're trying to ask and match it with one of the answers," said Brian Gross, Aeromexico's vice president for digital innovation and strategy. Like a lot of newish tech, it's not perfect. Gross stumped it recently by using an offensive Mexican phrase, and the bot told him it didn't understand. It's also not fully equipped to answer some common questions, including "How do I change my flight?" It can respond, but it directs passengers to regular customer service channels. The answer is similar for bag fees, with the bot transferring customers to the airline's website rather than helping passengers pay what they owe. And while the bot can look up flights for sale, it will send travelers to the website to buy them. Eventually, Gross expects the bot to improve, and perhaps help solve basic issues from start to finish. Several other airlines are also using or testing Facebook Messenger chatbots, including Volaris, a Mexican discounter, Lufthansa Group, and KLM. Some bots answer questions, while others allow passengers to buy tickets or receive flight status updates. For now, most airlines are focused on Messenger, since imple