UK-based digital vouchering company iCoupon has digitized the process of issuing and collecting passenger compensation vouchers for delayed flights.
The solution abolishes traditional paper vouchers by instantly adding funds to passengers’ boarding cards, smartphone passes or frequent flyer cards, which they can then use in the terminal concessions.
iCoupon also automates the entire administration of vouchers, enabling detailed reporting and simplified billing between retailer and airline. The issuing of vouchers is completely controlled by the airline and takes seconds to allocate a chosen monetary value to an existing barcode already in the passenger’s possession, such as the boarding pass.
An SMS notification can then be sent to a customer, ensuring good communication and minimal inconvenience. iCoupon has gone live in 100 airports across Europe and has an aggressive expansion plan for 2017 across Europe, Asia and the USA. Participants include Ryanair, Jet2, Finnair and Swissport, as well as global food and beverage operator SSP.
Joanne Brady, ground operations control manager for Ryanair, said, “In the rare event of delays or disruption, we can now provide our customers with refreshment vouchers at the touch of a button by using iCoupon, which provides direct integration between ourselves and airport retailers for the first time, further improving the customer experience. iCoupon eliminates the need for traditional paper vouchers, allowing a faster, cost effective and greener service, and providing assistance to customers in a matter of seconds.”
Vouchers applied to a boarding pass can be redeemed at any iCoupon participating unit or retailer, including airport food and beverage retailers and airline lounges (where applicable).
Mark Angela, chief commercial officer at SSP Group, said, “iCoupon enables us to scan the boarding pass from participating airlines to redeem the value of their digital vouchers against the passenger’s open invoice at point of sale, quickly and easily. iCoupon captures the transaction details for both us and the airline so we can quickly and easily invoice the airline for the redeemed totals.
“Traditionally, we would have had to process tens of thousands of vouchers manually, but iCoupon has enabled us to automate this where the airline is within the iCoupon framework, and it has had a tremendously positive impact on both our operational efficiency and our customers experience for delay compensation.”
Richard Bye, founder of iCoupon, said, “With many retailers currently integrating with iCoupon, the passenger now enjoys a lot of choice. It is a network approach to a manual problem, digitizing the processing and redemption of compensation vouchers.”
