Spirit Airlines wants travellers to book flights via text message

Spirit Airlines is planning to roll out next month booking services via text message, allowing travellers to buy flights and change reservations through text messaging platform WhatsApp. The service will start Sept 1. and will be available in English and Spanish. Customers will first interact with a chatbot that will provide basic information about the request and then a Spirit agent will take over, said a spokesman. From there, the guest follows a link to complete the booking, outside of WhatsApp. Airlines have been trying to find ways to drive more bookings to their own sites, instead of third-party online travel agencies. Customer service and booking over text isn’t yet widely available but airlines are exploring it. Delta Air Lines this summer said it started trialling text messaging for customer service questions. <br/>