1time Enables Online Check-ins
1time airlines has, with the help of Qualica Technologies, has implemented a same day and online check-in system to make using their services more convenient.
According to David Rogers, Qualica MD, eCheck-in allows customers who make return trips on the same day and are only carrying hand luggage to check in on the website and book their seats online.
By booking their seats online, passengers are not only able to choose where they want to sit, but only have to arrive half an hour before their flight, collect their boarding pass and walk straight through into the departure lounge. For a businessperson where time is of the essence, this saving is significant, Rogers says.
The same day check-in service offers additional benefit to the business traveler because they are able to book their place on the return flight from their departure airport.
This means that a businessmen travelling can receive his or her return boarding pass at their departure venue. When returning, they do not need to check in, but can walk straight through into the airports departure hall without having to stand in queues, Rogers says.
As with eCheck-in, same day check-in can only be used by passengers with hand luggage. 1time was the first low-cost airline to offer functionality like eCheck-in and same day check-in on their website.
Critical to the Business
Michael Kaminiski, 1time IT director, says the IT backbone built by Qualica that enables online booking and several other convenient customer features has been critical to its business. As a low-fair airline, ensuring that costs are kept as low as possible is critical. The online customer interface is an important cog in our business.
When 1time launched in 2004 with three return flights a day between Johannesburg and Cape Town, 75 percent of the bookings were made on our website. As that percentage grew and the number of people booking flights increased, the backend began to take strain. We began to look for a company which would be able to build a platform that would have the redundancy we needed to support our online bookings and relieve the load on our call centre, he says.
Redundancy Tested During Five Times Normal Load
The redundancy of the system has been tested with bookings rising to five times their normal levels during a special. The backend has remained stable with the only noticeable difference having been a slightly slower website during bookings. In fact, we have had only three hours down time on the servers during the last year, he says.
Rogers says the stability of the platform not only increased the proportion of booking done online, but enabled Qualica to work on additional functionality for the backend, which 1time did not offer up until that point. These included web services to allow third party access into the backend, an engine for corporate bookings, an SMS engine to keep customers informed and a reporting engine for financial, marketing and operation reports, he says.
The effect of the additional backend functionality significantly reduced call centre volumes because customers were able to book online and perform self service functionality. By empowering the customer to do their own queries and bookings, booking costs were reduced, as were the number of booking errors as customers now fill out their own information on the site.
Kaminski says the number of bookings made online has now risen to 90% and the platform has proved to be stable.
The Power of Online Customer Service
1time carried 10 000 passengers in the first 20 days after launching in the beginning of 2004 and 100 000 passengers by the end of June 2004. By October 2005, 1 million passengers had been carried and the airline currently flies around 85 000 passengers a month of which approximately 76 500 book online.
According to World Wide Worxs 2006 online retail report, the total online air travel ticketing market is estimated to have grown from R300-million 2003 to R1.5 billion in 2005, a fivefold increase. Furthermore, World Wide Worx says online ticketing of air travel will dominate consumer e-commerce for the next five to ten years.
Article from http://www.mybroadband.co.za/
Book a car at www.southafrica-carhire.com up to a year in adance
According to David Rogers, Qualica MD, eCheck-in allows customers who make return trips on the same day and are only carrying hand luggage to check in on the website and book their seats online.
By booking their seats online, passengers are not only able to choose where they want to sit, but only have to arrive half an hour before their flight, collect their boarding pass and walk straight through into the departure lounge. For a businessperson where time is of the essence, this saving is significant, Rogers says.
The same day check-in service offers additional benefit to the business traveler because they are able to book their place on the return flight from their departure airport.
This means that a businessmen travelling can receive his or her return boarding pass at their departure venue. When returning, they do not need to check in, but can walk straight through into the airports departure hall without having to stand in queues, Rogers says.
As with eCheck-in, same day check-in can only be used by passengers with hand luggage. 1time was the first low-cost airline to offer functionality like eCheck-in and same day check-in on their website.
Critical to the Business
Michael Kaminiski, 1time IT director, says the IT backbone built by Qualica that enables online booking and several other convenient customer features has been critical to its business. As a low-fair airline, ensuring that costs are kept as low as possible is critical. The online customer interface is an important cog in our business.
When 1time launched in 2004 with three return flights a day between Johannesburg and Cape Town, 75 percent of the bookings were made on our website. As that percentage grew and the number of people booking flights increased, the backend began to take strain. We began to look for a company which would be able to build a platform that would have the redundancy we needed to support our online bookings and relieve the load on our call centre, he says.
Redundancy Tested During Five Times Normal Load
The redundancy of the system has been tested with bookings rising to five times their normal levels during a special. The backend has remained stable with the only noticeable difference having been a slightly slower website during bookings. In fact, we have had only three hours down time on the servers during the last year, he says.
Rogers says the stability of the platform not only increased the proportion of booking done online, but enabled Qualica to work on additional functionality for the backend, which 1time did not offer up until that point. These included web services to allow third party access into the backend, an engine for corporate bookings, an SMS engine to keep customers informed and a reporting engine for financial, marketing and operation reports, he says.
The effect of the additional backend functionality significantly reduced call centre volumes because customers were able to book online and perform self service functionality. By empowering the customer to do their own queries and bookings, booking costs were reduced, as were the number of booking errors as customers now fill out their own information on the site.
Kaminski says the number of bookings made online has now risen to 90% and the platform has proved to be stable.
The Power of Online Customer Service
1time carried 10 000 passengers in the first 20 days after launching in the beginning of 2004 and 100 000 passengers by the end of June 2004. By October 2005, 1 million passengers had been carried and the airline currently flies around 85 000 passengers a month of which approximately 76 500 book online.
According to World Wide Worxs 2006 online retail report, the total online air travel ticketing market is estimated to have grown from R300-million 2003 to R1.5 billion in 2005, a fivefold increase. Furthermore, World Wide Worx says online ticketing of air travel will dominate consumer e-commerce for the next five to ten years.
Article from http://www.mybroadband.co.za/
Book a car at www.southafrica-carhire.com up to a year in adance
Labels: South Africa - Airlines
