Zach: I want to just take a moment to reflect on where we've actually come. So, over the last couple years when we've been at these events, we talk about it's really important to get the visual aspect of flight shopping out there. It's great for the airlines, it's great for the sales channels. But I want to kind of reflect on the fact that we've actually done it and we're often hard on ourselves, I think when it comes to retailing as airlines and as technology providers.

But the efforts of a lot of people sitting in this room, again, the technology provider, sales channel, airline side, and I'll say ATPCO, all the work that's been done to get us to where we are, it's pretty fantastic. So, thank you and congratulations to us all. But there is a but, this is only the beginning. We've always thought there's so much more we can do when it comes to, again, this visual language that we're talking about.

And I'm very pleased to be joined by two people who know far more about it than I do. And we'll hear from them shortly.

All right, want to introduce yourself?

Rania: Sure. Hello everyone, Rania Shehadi from Air Canada. I'm part of the technology arm of Air Canada and leading distribution platforms and also enabling the revenue platforms and sales platforms as we embark and we continue our journey on modern airline retailing.

Manish: Before I introduce myself, thank you ATPCO for arranging this Elevate every year and most importantly keeping it affordable for the attendees.

Hi everyone, I'm Manish Nagpal, VP of Product at Spotnana. I was here a couple of years back and I had to explain in detail what Spotnana does. Hopefully, this year you guys know what we are.

We are a travel technology company with the mission of making travel simple, freedom and trust. And as part of the VP of Spotnana, my job is to bring to life all the wonderful product you airlines keep building consistently for our customers to keep their trust and earn their customer satisfaction.

Zach: All right, so, and it's wonderful to be able to present the actual context. So, we have Air Canada on Spotnana here just has a nice visual so we can all understand, look how

far we've come. But the more important question is where we're going.

So, let's just start, to both panelists, what is the most impactful development that you've seen over the last twelve to eighteen months when it comes to visuals and flight shopping?

Rania: Sure. I will start a little bit building up on what you've been hearing since yesterday, right? We've been talking like in terms of things that happened in the last twelve to eighteen months. A lot of things happen even though a lot of us think that we still need to accelerate things to get faster on our journey. But many things happen in terms of technology, in terms of where we're heading to move towards retailing.

But I would say if I want to choose one thing, I would say it's a complete mindset shift for airlines where they are now thinking and want it to be more and acting like two retailers. Maybe I'll build up on this. And alongside with what you're seeing on the screen, right, in terms of the product attributes and how we've actually moved along in our retail journey.

Typically, and traditionally airlines would, we've been more having a static merchandising, right? We file our prices ahead of time. We have predefined products and we have brands that are locked in. And even though demands shift our ability or pricing or even how we construct our products lines and always come not in real time.

I think the game changer here is really now we have access to data; we have access to shopping data. We can actually use that to our benefit in understanding more in a contextual way what the customer is really searching in real time, what's the context in which channel and even helping us with better segmentation. Why this is key is because we can actually detect demand signals way ahead in the funnel and shopping and this is evolving around the quadrant that was shown earlier, right, how airlines are progressing in that journey to move to dynamic pricing and dynamic bundles or products.

I think what this helped us now is now we can detect signals earlier and we can actually move towards dynamic pricing. We've heard earlier, even from my colleague from revenue management, that we're now doing continuous pricing. So, we don't need any more to wait for fare file and we don't really need to as we adopt in our journey.  

We can still work with the systems we have today, we can still work with the basis of fare filing, but build up on that and do more price points through that channel and integrating more AI in our initial models in order for the willingness to pay as well as better forecasting models.

I think this is really a game changer for airlines to start thinking this way, act this way, challenge a little bit the complexity of our industry on how to move that, even though we're not necessarily all of us yet on, you know, adopting technology like product catalog, stockkeeper, where eventually we'll land on even building on the fly products.  

So, I think that's a huge evolution for our industry and you can see it, you can see more airlines progressing towards that role and changing from saying I'm selling a seat or a fare, but I'm actually now constructing a product, and I can bring relevant content, relevant offers to the customers.

Zach: Yeah. Manish, for you, what do you think the challenge and the opportunities have been in the last twelve months?

Manish: Yeah, we have been hearing, right, a lot is changing, airlines are experimenting, but in terms of visualization in particular and merchandising in particular. So, we are seeing airlines are now thinking when they are experimenting, merchandising and visuals are not the afterthought, right.  

And I'll give you an example, Lufthansa Group, they launched Allegris and I think they did it really the right way. So, that thought through what are the visuals going to be, what are the videos going to be and not just for their own dot com, but also how they are going to play out in the indirect channel.  

So, they made sure all the stuff was visually correct in the filings of the ATPCO Routehappy and at the same time work with the partners, the key partners, to make sure when they launch that product, it is displayed correctly the way they want it.

And it's actually win-win for everybody, right? They're launching a great premium product like Allegris, making sure that customer sees the value, not just the flight, right, at the see time. And I think that's the way it should be. And I'm seeing that happening more and more, and thanks to ATPCO actually because making Routehappy as part of the regular membership, I think that does the trick and that's the right move.

Zach: Thank you. Appreciate that. But I think you know to summarize it's a, it's leveraging all the data and technology that we have then using that to inform the launch of products really is something that that's very interesting. And it's exciting to see what's going to happen as airlines continue their create journeys. Rania, to you, when you're thinking about the indirect channel, what merchandising strategies do you really believe are most effective in that kind of space?

Rania: I'll build up on what Manish just said. You know, in our direct channels, we maybe have control over the user experience, the digital experience. And it's very important as we progress on our products and how we bundle those products to actually bring a consistent experience for the customers, but also an informed one and transparency and clarity, right, especially that we change things along, right?  

Just take baggage allowance for example. We keep on changing that. We keep on evolving the products and we expect the custom to be up to speed. And as much as we, they engage with our brands, and they trust our brands, there's a lot of changes that we can't take it for granted that the customer knows their ways through the brands and all that.  

So, while we have that well controlled and managed and we've invested a lot on our dot com it's as important and even more relevant in the indirect channels, right, because you need to bring a consistent experience to your customers and they need to interact with your brands regardless of the channel the same way.

And this is where augmenting that with rich content but also surface the attributes and the value of those attributes so the customer have clarity, not just at shopping, but also throughout the whole funnel is important.  

So, this is where tools like Routehappy that brings consistency, not just from an Air Canada perspective, but across all airlines because a customer in an indirect channel is actually have the ability to compare if you want all airlines side by side. And we will be naive to think that the customer knows of our products by heart, right, especially that we change often.

So, I think having a clear data, having clear attributes, being transparent in those amenities, but not only will bring brands, it strengthens the brand and trust, but it also helps them in conversion and in upselling them because they need to know from the get go, what am I getting? What are the attributes?  

And at the next step, if I, you know, engage with that product on the next step, they need to know that, you know, what seats can I get, why the seat is more expensive than in other seats, where are really the value that the seats are bringing me? And visual comes on top of that. So, I think from an indirect channels, it's very important to invest as much as we invest in our own channels and also bring care, accuracy, and consistency between both channels, so the customer feels that they can trust it.

Zach: And I like that. Would you agree, Manish, on that perspective in terms of a consistency and clarity if I'm coming from a channel perspective?

Manish: Well, absolutely. I mean, I don't know how many of you are you're counting when Bridget said value, right? I stopped counting after 10, but she nailed it. She literally nailed it. So, it's not about showing the flight, right? It's all about showing the value because especially in the corporate world, I mean, they're not browsing. They are there to see quickly and make a decision. And unless you can show that product value concisely, consistently, I mean you are not serving your customer well. So that's very important aspect.

Zach: Yeah. Maybe a follow up to that. As you mentioned in talking and communicating that value at which points in the shopping journey are most important to service that value, especially let's say for a corporate traveler? And so, this is the example you mentioned.

Manish: So, I'll say search is still the prominent place, like making sure you are consistently showing all the cabins, all the brands and not just showing along with the visuals, of course that play a key role, but the all the attributes, what's making them different, right? What value that brand is bringing it to you.  

And then after that, seat map is another very important place where you can upsell and show the product. But in the corporate world, upsell is a little bit more challenging than in the leisure. The reason being they have policies so often time you are not allowed to actually buy that paid seat or you are not allowed to upgrade on the corporate card. So that's where the innovation by the providers like Spotnana play a key role where you have to allow that upgrade to happen.

So yeah, one aspect is show the value so that user can upgrade but then also making it happen and that's a little bit challenging. I mean, to give you a precise example, if you want to upgrade a cabin and your policy doesn't allow it, then you have a dilemma if you have to support this multi form of payment within the same transaction. And that's not easy.  

The airline, you have to pay the full amount, but somehow at the back you have to divide that amount, the difference on the personal card and then the fare which is within the policy on the corporate card and settle it and expense it and all that stuff. Good stuff. But again, it's challenging, but it's the fun at the same time to provide such a service to our customers.

Zach: Would you agree?  

Rania: If I may add for corporate, I think things are evolving right, on the corporate side and in even the behavior and the buyers. I mean, I agree with Manish, at first of all at shopping is important because they need to know that the bundle that I'm seeing or what is being proposed to me is actually within my policy entitlement and that's important and there are ways to do it and there are visually how you presented as well.  

I still believe that sometimes even for business travelers, entitlement and policy could be interpreted different ways. So, even when you're showing them different brands, most of them were, let's say they, let's say two brands are entitled and there was in their corporate policy. How did they make a decision because it could impact not only their travel experience, but also in savings for that company, for example, the flexibility of exchanges and all that. So, am I choosing the right even brand within my corporate policy? So, I think there's an opportunity there.

But the other opportunity, I think the landscape and how the patterns of the business behavior is changing to manage point today. There are some even some corporations that allow you to have, for example, leisure. I could extend my stay and benefit from that and I may want to then upgrade or I might want to bring, you know, not just the carry-on baggage and I'm willing to pay for it on my own dime as, so you just need to adapt the technology to that change of behavior for business travel.  

And then of course, you can complement that through that journey on, you know, addressing that through upsell or so, presenting them those offers so they can actually add them to their shopping cart, even though it's not necessarily covered by their company, but covered by their own. And multiple form of payment becomes key, for example in such a in such a flow.

Zach: Makes a lot of sense. I think my question then would then be how do you show that? I think that getting that, you know, it's, I think so often we've been saying, OK, the flight product is the flight product. Once you're on board that seat is the same whether you're a leisure traveler or business travel. But now that we're actually talking more about the experience, I think it raises an interesting question about visually how do you tell that story?

Rania: Yeah. And I think there's an opportunity there on how to do it, especially that now with products and you know where we're moving from retail, you can create corporate bundles, right? And how do you differentiate the corporate bundle than you know your regular branded fares that they're used to and how do they interact with that? How do you on top of that, they on also add ons that they can actually choose, but they're not necessarily part of their corporate policy.  

I don't think we have that very straightforward yet, but I think there's a clear opportunity on how this can be done and visualized. And it's at the UI level and it's also the data that will be giving you that trigger of if I call it this way or identifier. So visually you can you present it. And I think there's an opportunity for Routehappy to actually evolve around that, even including the loyalty component to it.

Zach: Yeah.

Rania: Especially for business travelers, there are you know that is very meaningful for them and they want to see that also through the presentation of that offers for them.

Zach: Yeah, I was and I think the previous session was really interesting in terms of how we're thinking of evolving in terms of bundles and bringing those things into play. But you know, I think that's, it's an interesting question to us as well as what, and maybe from Manish, from your perspective, but looking at multi airline, what are the attributes and things that continue to need to evolve to support again, the discussion and the visualization of all these new aspects of things that we have?

Manish: I mean, before new attributes, I'll say airlines need to spend time and resources to make sure the attributes they want to show are filed correctly in Routehappy. They do a very good job for their own channels. But then when it comes to indirect channels, yeah, I mean most of the airlines are spending some time and resources, but not all. We have such a good framework in this industry and manage to compare it with hotels. You don't have anything like that, and you struggle, you find visuals and it's so important there. So, things like that, what we have, make it consistent, make it filing correctly, that's the number one step. Have adoption by more and more airlines so that you can get that same experience across the airlines.

And then there are few actually attributes specific to corporate travels like large enterprise customers have entitlements, right? They get free seat even though they don't have any loyalty attached to it. So, it will really cool if airlines can file certain things which can show as corporate customer clearly that you are getting these seats free, not because you are, you have a loyalty with the airline because your company has a contract with the airlines and they are giving you this good benefit and that increases adoption, that increases customer satisfaction. And there are several ideas, right? I mean the airline can go to even specific corporations that what they are, what the contract says, what the entitlement says for that corporation and show it clearly in terms of attributes or visuals to that and travelers so that they feel good about it.

Zach: Yeah, there is a lot of work to continue to be done I think on the airline and the channel side to evolve this. But really quick in just a couple sentences one thing that we can do in the next 12 months and we're on-stage next year, we can say that we've accomplished something new and exciting what would it be? What could we do to support both and the airline and the channel side?

Manish: I'm mean with AI and how much time I have?

Zach: Forty-two seconds so, oh, but AI, if everyone's playing the drinking game, yes, you can drink. Now go on with AI.

Manish: So, AI is a big tailwind and as we are hearing and I have, I mean we are really working. So, I'll give you an example. Yesterday somebody from AWS said, and I don't remember the name, they said, won't it be cool that the model shifts from, I call it pull to push because you, we know that in the calendar, we are all coming here and the AI, your own EA travel agent recognizes that finds three top recommendation, pushes you through your Slack, WhatsApp or an e-mail and asks you pick one. But at the same time, you need to do a job very clearly, demonstrating why we picked those three options for you, right? And that's where the visualization. Retailing and all other aspects play a key role, but that's what we are trying to do, and I think we can make it a reality within this year.

Zach: Rania last word for you?

Rania: I would say a good collaboration on how we can evolve around the Routehappy road map and bring some of the things that we've been talking about like how do we bring loyalty into that mix and how do we present it especially in indirect channels, especially for corporate, for example, in that sense, I think that's one element.

The second element that I think it's a tremendous opportunity, it was mentioned earlier also is there is a challenge with how we do cross sell and when we talk about co-chair and interlining and joint ventures, it's very clear in our heads. It's not clear in the head of a customer. So, how do you present an offer for them so they can understand what's my baggage allowance even though it's an Air Canada flight but operated by another airline or by your JV?  

But even on the corporate side, we do have contracts that are global contracts. How do we make that value proposition more relevant and present it visually and also from a attribute’s perspective, so they clearly understand that what they're seeing and what they are engaging with and selecting is alongside their entitlement. I think there's some opportunities to collaborate on that.

Zach: Excellent. Well, I, just in quick summary, think what we've heard is that as airlines are evolving with all sorts of new data and technology, there's a tremendous opportunity to continue the evolution of this visual language. Lots of opportunity for collaboration, lots of opportunity for development. So, I want to thank the panel, thank both of you for joining us today and wishing everyone to continue with a great conference.

Manish: Thank you.

Rania: Thank you.

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