JetBlue Set to Change Airline Customer Service Forever

Communicating with an airline via Twitter has become a routine part of our high-tech, social media obsessed world. A few savvy travelers even use Facebook’s chat function to get in touch with an airline.

And there are still others who prefer to continue using dated methods of communication such as the telephone or email (shudder).

But until now, airlines have not had the technology in place to converse with customer service representatives across multiple mediums—Facebook, Twitter, text, email, and telephone—without having to completely repeat and recap all of the details of their previous conversations.

Enter JetBlue and its new partnership with Gladly.

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Earlier this week, the New York-based airline announced it would be joining forces with Gladly to roll out a modern customer service platform enabling travelers to have one continuous conversation with JetBlue’s customer support team across multiple communication channels.

In essence, Gladly’s technology gives customer support representatives a single view of all conversations that have occurred with a customer.

You can start by tweeting a message to JetBlue, then jump over to Facebook chat or text message and continue the conversation, and the airline will already know the details of everything that has previously been said.

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This is a huge departure from legacy systems that put each communication with a passenger into its own silo, forcing the customer to recap everything at each new interaction. The new system allows JetBlue customers to have continuous, real-time conversations through whichever channel they prefer at the moment.

“We’ve always taken an innovative approach to customer service and this partnership will further advance our leadership,” said Frankie Littleford, vice president customer support, for JetBlue, said in a statement.

“We started JetBlue with the idea that we could bring humanity back to air travel but the customer support technology hasn’t kept up with the increasing number of ways customers want to interact with us. Gladly gives us the tools to deliver on our mission in today’s environment.”

By many accounts, the new technology could be a game changer in the industry, particularly in light of the increased scrutiny airlines have come under in recent months due to a variety of widely reported public relations and customer service incidents.

JetBlue’s partnership with Gladly is not limited to implementation of its customer service technology, either. Conde Nast Traveler reported that the airline has invested $2.5 million in the startup, through JetBlue Technology Ventures.

JetBlue will begin using the email portion of Gladly's platform this fall and the rest of the new features will be implemented in phases over the next year, according to Business Insider.

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