Flight Center Manager on Artificial Intelligence: ‘We Continue to Invest’

Scroll Reception

Flight Center implemented several artificial intelligence projects, but this was only scratching the surface.

Justin Dawes

Flight Center Travel Group developed and implemented many artificial intelligence projects; Dozens more are on the way.

It’s been almost a year since the travel agency announced it would launch a dedicated team to develop and implement AI tools across its corporate travel division.

Skift spoke John MorhousChief experience officer of Flight Center’s corporate travel division on the company’s progress. Morhous was behind the creation of the team called the “Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence.”

“We’re spending a lot of time addressing and tracking the (ROI) of our time and we’re seeing a lot of positive ROI so far. That’s why we continue to invest in the region.”

Australia-based Flight Center Travel Group is one of the world’s largest travel agencies. Leisure and business travel sells and completes $15.2 billion in sales In 2023.

How Does Artificial Intelligence Center Work?

The “Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence” serves as a sort of internal consultancy for the company’s business travel brands. FCM And Corporate Traveler.

The team is working with nearly a dozen different product teams, all located in different countries, to identify where generative AI might be useful. The team starts building the product and eventually delivers it to the relevant product team.

The AI ​​Center is also responsible for developing AI best practices for the company in training, development, security and dealing with government regulations; These are all sensitive areas, especially for a publicly traded company. It also manages AI relationships with partners such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and OpenAI.

“Now internal teams don’t need to worry about all of this as long as they work through the processes we’ve outlined. They get all of that as a package for themselves,” Morhous said. “And then (the AI ​​team) can focus on driving innovation, then delegating it, and then working on the next innovation.”

Four Artificial Intelligence Projects at the Flight Center

Morhous said the team has developed some tools for the consumer experience, but is mostly focused on making company operations more efficient.

They are always working on new ideas. “They’re at capacity for about a dozen to two dozen at any given time. There’s always someone coming in, someone closing down,” Morhous said.

Morhous summarized the four major projects the team implemented:

• Module that leverages OpenAI to classify all incoming customer inquiries and route them to the most relevant service team. “This has been arguably the most effective, highest (return on investment) deployment we have ever made.”
• Browser extension tool that generates content during the booking process and aims to help customers provide tips to travelers. As an example of the type of tip he can provide, Morhous said: “This European city has much higher rates on Uber. Please make sure to book a taxi when you arrive rather than using Uber.”
• Simplify your travel planning with bookings from multiple sources. Travelers can forward multiple reservations to one email address, and then AI combines all the information to create a schedule that the traveler can view in one place.
• Self-service customer service chatbot that customers can use instead of or before speaking to a person.

What’s Next?

Morhous believes there are many more opportunities for AI in the travel industry and that AI is far from realizing its full potential. For now, Flight Center focuses on the big gaps between the many fragmented parts of the trip.

• “I’d love to think that travel works as smoothly as Amazon, where I can go to a website, buy something, and it’s on my doorstep four hours later. “But travel is still a highly fragmented industry.”
• “I think the technology has a lot of promise in the industry in general, and we’re probably just starting to scratch the surface.”
• “I don’t arrange my entire trip through an omniscient chatbot, and everything I do now goes through these interfaces; It is too early for us to see the realistic effects of this technology in the industry. But there is so much promise. And I think you need to continue to focus on improving that experience and delivering a positive return on investment.”
• “We’ll probably continue to grow that team a little bit more to have a little bit more capacity. I would imagine at some point they might start focusing on more AI-centric, more specialized projects rather than doing so much consulting.”
• “Whether it’s in a centralized team or distributed teams, our investment doesn’t go into space.”