TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY,HOSPITALITY TRENDS
Spirit Airlines | July 14, 2022
Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) has completed yet another groundbreaking investment in the Guest experience. Guests can now binge their favorite shows via Spirit Wi-Fi on flights operated by its Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. The major milestone marks the first time a U.S.-based ultra-low fare airline has offered high-speed Wi-Fi.
Spirit partnered with Thales to install the high-speed connectivity solution FlytLIVE to cover Spirit's network across the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. This state-of-the-art system offers access to internet services. Guests can enjoy an at-home level of experience in the air while viewing video from their streaming services, playing games and connecting on social media with their personal devices. As another major milestone, Spirit expects to provide the fastest Wi-Fi service of any U.S.-based airline when all FlytLIVE-enabled planes are connected to the new, very high-throughput SES-17 satellite by September 2022.
"This is a real groundbreaking moment in the industry as Spirit adds in-flight amenities and product options that have previously not been available on ultra-low fare carriers, We're continuing to deliver the best value in the sky by providing options that are important to our Guests, like our high-speed Wi-Fi service, while keeping our focus on affordable fares to provide our Guests with More Go."
-Matt Klein, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for Spirit Airlines.
At Thales, we are proud to partner with Spirit Airlines in their mission to enhance the Guest experience and are truly excited to have 100% of their A320 & A321 fleet equipped with FlytLIVE. The system's reliability and performance is getting rave reviews from Spirit's passengers who can now stream to their heart's content," said TK Kallenbach, CEO Thales InFlyt Experience.
Spirit Wi-Fi
Spirit is the leader in providing customizable travel options that allow Guests to pay only for the options they choose like bags, seat assignments, refreshments, and now, Wi-Fi service will be part of this À La Smarte approach to travel. In addition to purchasing Wi-Fi on the flight, Guests can pre-purchase Wi-Fi at the time of booking on spirit.com effective July 13, 2022, and on the mobile app effective August 10, 2022, for flights on or after August 24, 2022. The voucher codes received from the pre-purchase option are for entry in the online Wi-Fi portal on the plane.
Wi-Fi Your Way
Browsing: browse the web and stay in touch via email, chat, and social media starting at $2.99
Streaming: stream, browse, and chat on board with high-speed internet that's 20x faster than our browsing option starting at $5.99
How To Connect
Turn on your device's Wi-Fi and choose "Spirit_WiFi"
Open your web browser and visit SpiritWiFi.com
Choose the plan, enter your payment or voucher code information, and enjoy Spirit Wi-Fi
Features:
The most advanced Ka-band high-throughput connectivity
FlytLIVE uses SES & Hughes next-generation aviation satellite network and technology
SES-17 satellite built to serve routes across the Americas and Atlantic with Ka-band coverage
SES-17 is SES's first satellite to have a totally digital payload, powered by a Thales advanced digital transparent processor (DTP), enabling greater flexibility and efficiency than previously available. Using Thales' FlytLIVE and SES-17, Spirit expects to offer the best availability in the Americas and will be faster than other airlines based on published data.
Additional program details:
In total, more than 80 percent of Spirit's fleet has Wi-Fi capability with system installations completed on Spirit's existing A320 and A321 sub-fleets. The expansion of Wi-Fi functionality to Spirit's existing A319 sub-fleet will be determined at a later date. Spirit plans to gain 24 brand new A320neo planes in 2022 for a projected fleet-wide total of 197 by the end of the year, and 33 more new planes projected for delivery in 2023.
The price of the Wi-Fi options is based on the duration of the flight. While inflight, Guests can enjoy complimentary access to Spirit.com—check your flight status on connecting flights, access your mobile boarding pass, and join Free Spirit to earn points from your flight. More information may be found on spirit.com/wifi.
Recognition
Spirit continues to garner recognition for innovation in the Guest experience and its commitment to operational excellence. The carrier won "Best Airport Innovation" in the 2021 APEX/IFSA Awards for its groundbreaking self-bag drop system with biometric photo matching, which speeds up the check-in process and reduces face-to-face contact. Additionally, Spirit was recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Employers for Diversity in 2022. Spirit also received the FAA's "Aviation Maintenance Technician Diamond Award of Excellence" for the fourth consecutive year.
About Spirit Airlines:
Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) is committed to delivering the best value in the sky. We are the leader in providing customizable travel options starting with an unbundled fare. This allows our Guests to pay only for the options they choose — like bags, seat assignments and refreshments — something we call À La Smarte®. We make it possible for our Guests to venture further and discover more than ever before. Our Fit Fleet® is one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient in the U.S. We serve destinations throughout the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean, and are dedicated to giving back and improving those communities. Come save with us at spirit.com.
About Thales:
Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and "deep tech" innovations – connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum computing – to build a confident future crucial for the development of our societies. The Group provides its customers – businesses, organisations and governments – in the defence, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security domains with solutions, services and products that help them fulfil their critical role, consideration for the individual being the driving force behind all decisions.
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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Faye | August 22, 2022
As travel opens up again for most of the world after COVID 19, travel apps are becoming more and more popular. Faye was recently named one of the top must-download travel apps of 2022 by Fodor’s Travel.
As the holiday season approaches, Americans are reaching a new height of travel after the Pandemic. Many are heading out of their homes, in many cases for the first time since January 2020 to visit family, take a much-needed vacation, or go on an in-person business trip.
However, although travel has picked up, travelers are more aware of the need to take precautions — for both their trip investment and their health. After so many things happening all over the world in the last few years, people are more aware of their own safety as well as the safety of those around them.
Many are realizing the huge — yet formerly somewhat neglected — need for traveler insurance. It is an easy way to make sure you have the care you need as you travel domestically or abroad.
Travel is as important now as it ever was. It’s a necessary part of life and can greatly benefit one in learning about other cultures and lifestyles. Covid-19 may have added risks to the travel process, but many travelers are finally taking back control of their lives and are embarking on new journeys.
For many, there is a much more pressing need for travel, and life did not just stop. Many businesses are opening back up for office work, and with this movement comes the need for much-needed business trips. Companies want to update their current employees as well as conduct in-person training and onboarding processes for new employees.
Many others want to see family after so much time apart. It’s important for parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. to visit their family and possibly even meet new family members in some cases. The need to see family is as real now as ever.
Wanderlust is definitely in the air, and many simply are in the mood to travel for pleasure. After being in the comfort of their own homes for such a long stint, many are wanting to go onto new adventures to educate themselves and to clear their heads.
As the Summer months come to a close and we approach the holiday months, the desire for travel will only increase. Rather than ignoring the need, many companies are embracing the increase in the desire for travel and making accommodations even as travelers themselves educate themselves on the best way to be prepared.
We live in a modern age where technology rules. However, you cannot get the travel experience from a screen on your phone. You can, however, get the confidence you need to travel from some great online resources. Faye brings together the best of real-life experience and modern technology in a simple app.
Faye offers a new, modern take on Travel Insurance, offering whole-trip coverage and care, rather than confusing packages with fancy names. The company’s travel protection looks after your trip, your stuff, your health, and even your pet if you’re bringing Fido along for the journey.
“Our main goal is for travelers to feel safe after everything that has happened in the past few years, and as travel started opening up, we wanted to offer a new kind of travel insurance that goes the distance to give consumers that security. We at Faye believe that the role of the travel insurer is to look after you when you’re on the road. That can mean providing amazing, 100% digital insurance in which we pay claims super quickly, but it also means we look after you when you need to find a doctor, town to explore, nearest ATM or what restaurant to dine at.”
-Vice president of communications and brand, Lauren Gumport
Faye has coverage for almost anything related to your travels, even before you take off. They treat Covid-19 like any other illness to ensure you are taken care of, even if you fall ill before your trip.
It also covers extra trip-expenses should you come down with Covid during your trip and need to stay some extra time. “COVID-19 is top of mind for travelers as they take to the skies. Our plans cover travelers in a variety of COVID-related scenarios, noted Gumport, including: If they bought Faye travel insurance and contract COVID-19, resulting in them having to cancel an upcoming trip; in this case Faye can cover 100% in non-refundable trip expenses like hotels and flights. Faye also covers you if you contract COVID-19 in-trip; this includes prescription drugs, hospitalization, trip extension costs and more.”
Travelers can get covered on their website, but Faye also offers an attractive, easy-to-use app. Within the app, available on both iOS and Android, you have the ability to file a claim and receive reimbursements via their secure digital payments card, Faye Wallet. There is also a chat on the app which allows you to speak to an agent at any time of day. Faye specifies on their website that they are even available on the weekends and holidays.
Said Gumport, We wanted to make sure the app was easy to use, so that even while traveling, you can be reimbursed for common travel inconveniences like flight and baggage delays, file claims and chat with our customer experience agents. Faye is available not just when travelers need us most, but around the clock to offer tips and local suggestions to ensure you remember your trip for the right reasons.
Consumers’ desire to travel is stronger than ever before. And we’re right by their side the entire time to make sure they’re safe and looked after at every step of their journey, added Gumport.
As the world continues to open up and people venture out to see their family and take care of much-needed business travel, safety is of the utmost importance. Faye gives travelers the security of knowing that they are always covered, with a paperless, superior, person-first experience that is much more than travel insurance. That peace of mind is priceless.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
Fraugster | August 02, 2022
Fraugster, an AI payment intelligence company, together with Worldline, a global leader in secure payments and trusted transactions, has confidently enabled travel merchants to weather the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic with its Chargeback Protection Solution. The solution eliminates chargeback losses for merchants by taking full liability for fraudulent transactions. At the same time, advanced AI trained on global payment data makes more accurate decisions to boost approval rates. Innovations in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) allow merchants to go-live without historical data by leveraging a new deep learning model.
With the outbreak of Covid-19, global travel was grounded. This caused mass cancellations and a scramble for refunds, but also created new opportunities for fraudsters to strike overburdened travel operators (hotels, airlines and OTAs), and take advantage of weak points in the system. In addition, there was a surge in so-called "angry chargebacks" where customers claim not to have authorised a transaction, usually in response to being frustrated by a cancellation or booking change. Covid-19 fraud patterns and consumer payment behaviour were significantly different to those pre-pandemic. Similarly, data inconsistencies limited the ability to identify and prevent certain types of fraud attacks like last minute cancellations on short term bookings. Chargeback rates jumped to over 3%, versus a baseline of under 0.5% in normal circumstances.
"Iberostar experienced a massive increase in fraud pressure during the pandemic. We were pleased that partners Fraugster and Worldline were able to act so quickly to design a new AI model specifically for us. In a few short months we reduced the Chargeback rate from 2.76% to 0.07%, which was a fantastic achievement,"
-Ferran Llompart, Corporate Treasury Director, Iberostar
Additional factors make chargeback protection more relevant than ever. The first is that the total cost of managing chargebacks has risen to nearly 3x of the original transaction value, according to a Fraugster analysis. For verticals like travel, where average order values are in excess of $750, this implies a total cost of over $2000 per fraudulent transaction.
Secondly, 80% of online merchants are reporting an increase in first party fraud (also referred to as "friendly fraud") where credit card credentials are intentionally or mistakenly abused. This trend is particularly acute in online gaming environments. These chargebacks are very difficult to prevent or mitigate and are costing companies margin, with limited recourse to recovering chargeback losses.
Together these trends are increasing merchants' exposure to chargeback liability and are driving up the total costs related to chargebacks. With Fraugster's Chargeback Protection solution merchants are able to significantly reduce the costs attributable to managing chargebacks, plus chargeback losses and fees, with little to no integration effort.
"Fraugster's approach to addressing chargebacks is to use a combination of machine learning and behavioral science to build a sharper picture of the transaction in question. This means merchants can provide a more seamless buying experience for legitimate customers while also preventing fraudulent transactions from getting through - this includes transactions that may turn into chargeback fraud later on, We are pleased that global brands have increased their revenue of between 5-16% since adopting Fraugster's Chargeback Protection solution product and report a steadier and more predictable financial coverage for chargebacks and bottom line impacts."
-Christian Mangold, CEO of Fraugster.
About Fraugster
Fraugster is a Berlin based payment intelligence company. Fraugster enables the world's leading merchants, global payment companies like Worldline and Ratepay to intelligently manage the impact of fraud to minimize the costs of fraud, maximize revenue and improve customer experience. Fraugster has developed one of the most accurate AI compliance, risk and fraud management and revenue uplift platforms in the market and is backed by leading deeptech investors including Earlybird, Speedinvest and CommerzVentures. Further information can be found at https://www.fraugster.com/
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