Delta Launches New Rebooking Technology

Sky Team, the global airline alliance co-founded by Delta, has launched a new rebooking technology designed to minimize the inconvenience customers experience from flight delays, cancellations, and diversions.

Being described as an industry first, SkyTeam Rebooking, will be available at 43 airports initially and then expanded across the alliance’s broader network in the coming months, Delta said in a statement.

The new technology provides access to passenger itineraries across multiple, global reservation systems when passengers are facing a flight issue.

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Once fully implemented, frontline agents at SkyTeam’s 20 airlines will be able to access reservations and rebook travelers onto another member’s flights using their own reservation platform, thus overcoming the complexity of connecting different systems, the airline said.

Customers affected by flight disruptions can present themselves at a SkyTeam airline’s ticket or transfer desk up to 48 hours before departure and be rerouted onto the next available SkyTeam flight.

“Delays and cancellations are a fact of life in travel, but with SkyTeam Rebooking we are tackling the issue head-on to deliver more seamless service to customers, especially when their journey doesn’t go as planned,” Perry Cantarutti, SkyTeam’s CEO, said in a statement. “Irregular operations are a moment of truth for airlines and a critical opportunity to demonstrate customer centricity. Since the rollout of SkyTeam Rebooking began, thousands of passengers have been helped by our members thanks to this new technology.”

SkyTeam Rebooking is being launched in two phases, with the service available now in 21 countries, across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The second phase, slated to be completed in late 2018, will cover the U.S. and Canada.

This is the latest innovation from SkyTeam, which became the first alliance in 2012 to offer an aligned series of airport benefits for its top customers when it launched SkyPriority. The service is now offered by all 20 members and is available at more than 1,000 airports worldwide.