How TMCs Fix Business Travel Flight Disruptions

It’s hard for business travelers to navigate the complexity of a widespread flight disruption if they booked using an online travel agency (OTA) or directly with an airline.

When dozens or hundreds of flights are delayed, it’s difficult to get through to  airline support over the phone, which can lead to hours spent on hold. Airlines often rebook travelers on new flights scheduled in the coming days, leaving them unable to get to important meetings on time or get home. Travelers often end up booking another costly flight and expense it to their company, leading to skyrocketing corporate travel costs.

Flight disruptions, like this week’s ground stop for Southwest Airlines, are an unfortunate reality for business travelers. Using the right travel management company (TMC), though, can help ease the pain and get travelers where they need to be– on time.

Here are three ways using a TMC helps ease the burden on travelers, and your company, during a major travel disruption.

24/7 Agent Support

When flights are canceled or delayed, it helps to have experts on your side.

With TMC support, experienced travel agents can proactively support travelers by switching them to unaffected flights and contacting airline support directly to help facilitate timely rebooking. 

Agent support also helps ensure any rebooking takes place within company policy, limiting additional costs.

At Spotnana, 24/7 global service is provided for every traveler, with all changes and support included in our per trip fee. Travelers can contact our agents via phone, chat, and email at any time. In fact, our agents are so helpful they earned  a 99% CSAT score in 2022. Travelers can reach out agents using our mobile app chat functionality, allowing travelers to get in touch with agents wherever they are.

Self-service mobile trip management

It’s important for travelers to have the ability to modify, change, and cancel their bookings without having to contact an agent or travel supplier directly.

If a big storm is expected to cause a flight disruption, for instance, a traveler using Spotnana can switch to an earlier flight to avoid a major impact to their plans using only our mobile app. If a traveler is stranded, they can extend their hotel stay in our app while adhering to company policy.

Our desktop Online Booking Tool and mobile app have feature parity, so travelers receive the full Spotnana experience across both channels. Our travel agents also use the same platform as Spotnana travelers, allowing them to access personal preferences and intervene directly to fix disrupted trips.

Spotnana provides both an unparalleled traveler experience and robust spending controls to company administrators, with our users boasting a 97% in-policy booking rate in 2022.

Traveler tracking and insights

Flight disruptions present a challenge for administrators and travel arrangers at companies without robust traveler tracking tools.

Companies bear the responsibility of duty of care when sending a traveler on a trip, making it important to always know where employees are during a disruption or emergency.

Spotnana features a live map with the past, present, and future locations of all travelers. We make it easy to look out for your travelers and ensure a smooth experience when travel disruptions occur. It takes just one click to see the location of your travelers and another to contact them directly if a disruption has taken place. 

Spotnana’s Travel-as-a-Service Platform provides unparalleled travel experiences and a suite of next-generation tools that make life easier for travel managers. Get a demo today.