American to Offer On-The-Spot Compensation for In-Flight Inconveniences

Compensation program allows for resolution in the skies, providing immediate solutions.

Flyers who know they will miss a connection or experience another mishap aboard American Airlines can request and receive compensation before they land by the end of the month. Chicago Business Journal reports the carrier is preparing to launch iSolve on in-flight tablets before the end of January 2018.

The iSolve software is currently available to customer service managers, reservation agents and social media teams to award compensation at the point of a consumer complaint. While exact compensation amounts or cases resolved is unknown, the goal is to prevent a public relations crisis by empowering employees to solve situations as they arise.

With the addition of iSolve in American cabins, flight attendants will be able to provide real-time support for flyers in addition to an apology. The cases for compensation may include a broken seat, unavailable meal selections or missed connections due to delays and other factors.

Although the software gives flight crews a new tool to bring peace to the skies, some worry that the addition of iSolve can create more problems than it solves. Flight attendants have expressed concerns to the trade newspaper that if flyers know compensation is available, they may field more frivolous complaints in the hopes they will be awarded extra miles or travel vouchers.

The addition of iSolve comes after employees received 12.5 hours of “de-escalation training,” a skill which helps flight attendants bring in-cabin conflicts to an end. American is not alone in using the software to help bring situations to a closure: Both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have similar programs to compensate flyers in the event of a customer service crisis.

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