The Philippines’ leading carrier, Cebu Pacific (PSE: CEB), continues to speed up its digital transformation in line with its commitment to keep improving its overall customer experience. With all the great strides the airline has taken in online booking, check-in, manage booking, and Charlie the chatbot, it will discontinue its Philippine hotline numbers by May 01, 2021.
CEB began ramping-up its customer-first initiatives through digital innovation in 2017 when it was among the first airlines in Asia to invest in an integrated facility and technology for social intelligence and customer engagement. This head start has equipped the carrier to adjust quickly to address everyJuan’s needs amid COVID, mainly through its social media channels manned by the CEB Customer Care Agents.
In the first quarter of 2021, the airline noted a total of 87% of its passengers maximize its website to book flights directly in the platform. Along with this, 67% of CEB passengers conveniently managed their bookings online, specifically during flight disruptions.
In 2018, CEB’s very own Charlie the chatbot was introduced in order to enable passengers to receive real-time answers to common queries and transactions such as flight schedule and status, check-in process, itinerary and boarding pass retrieval, and the like; or lead them to the right steps to address their concerns. Since then, Charlie has been continuously improved and is now able to respond to more queries, without having to talk to an agent.
“We are glad to have started our digital transformation journey even before the pandemic, because we have come to rely on it in this new normal environment. We continue to prioritize the safety and convenience of our passengers, that is why we have accelerated our digital efforts to support contactless and self-service processes,” said Candice Iyog, CEB Vice President for Marketing and Customer Experience.
In the past year, the carrier has further improved its self-service options, now allowing everyJuan to not only choose their preferred flexibility options easily through https://bit.ly/CEBmanageflight, but even to correct and update information as needed, manage group bookings online, and receive notifications via email or SMS, among others. The carrier also recently waived change fees permanently, enabling passengers to rebook as many times as they need.
“Rest assured Charlie, along with our Customer Care team, are online 24/7 to assist everyJuan. We continue to enhance existing processes as we remain committed to empowering customers and ensuring access to the information they need anytime, anywhere, without having to call the hotline or go to a ticketing office,” added Iyog.
Passengers can simply message Charlie via the Cebu Pacific website or the official CEB Facebook page. Its official Twitter page also remains active during this time.
Meanwhile, for more information on Contactless Flight Guidelines, flexibility options, updated network, travel document requirements, FAQs and the like, passengers may visit https://bit.ly/CEBFlightReminders.
