'Travel Consultancy Is The Future'

Peter Stearn, regional director, reservation sales, Delta Air Lines Inc, Western European Call Centre, who has the crucial responsibility of overseeing call centre operations in the carrier's Western European office in London, is keen to expand the scope of value of his customer executive, infers Bhisham Mansukhani

What do you perceive as the essential role of the call centre?

The call centre handles reservation sales for customers pan Europe. Outside of Western Europe, we support any country where we are represented by GSAs. However, Russia and India have their own call centres. Our primary function is reservation sales and customer service and support for travel agencies and loyalty programmes. We are perceived as the only link with passengers when they are not at the airport. We handle all such issues which could be usually be assisted with at the airport.

Why consolidate operation in London as opposed to dedicated call centres in individual markets?

Previously our set up was akin to a lot of other airlines wherein we had several local reservation offices in each country co-located with the sales office. From the point of view of enhancing efficiency, Delta Air Lines felt consolidation of operations in London would work better. London with the wealth of language skills and talent pool was the ideal choice. The costs were a motivating factor but really, efficiency of operation overrode that consideration. We have the capacity to service 17 different languages. We have a like number of nationalities working with us, right from Latin America to the Philippines.

Can the call centre executive replace the agent as a consultant?

As of now, I don't think so because the customer is always going to want that irreplaceable personal touch. That is simply inherent to the profile of the customer we serve. More so, since the element of technology is so overt to our systems, there is a danger of our product getting completely 'commodified' and I think that doesn't work for people who aren't comfortable with technology, especially when they deserve value-added services. Herein, the meeting planners have a very valuable role to play in the value chain and the Delta Gateway Showcase is testimony to that. End users rely on the meeting planners and we do not intend to replicate their role. We will work alongside them.

Have the call centres in a way impacted the traditional travel agent?

Yes, I think there are a lot of modern elements that are impacting the business of the traditional travel agent and of course there is the information being generated through airline driven online portals. This is why travel agencies are having to transform themselves from the role of merely providing a ticket to an exhaustive bouquet of services. Travel consultancy is the future.

Is there, though, a thrust to add dimension to the scope of the call centre executive?

I would certainly hope so. I think that is the model we need to move towards. That is what customers look for. Now we need to look at what value can we provide other than the standard information that a customer calls up for. In fact the basic information can be met with voice recognition alone so the role of the customer service executive needs more dimension. Destination information and consultancy will set our call centre apart. We are placing an emphasis on this as we speak.

Can the call centre executives cope with crisis management given the risk entailed with travel nowadays?

We are there already. There may be a few limitations as to the information that we can provide but if a customer wants to call from anywhere in Europe they can reach a Delta representative 24/7.

Any plans to augment capacity or open more call centres?

There aren't any plans for expansion yet but as the business grows, we are looking at new and emerging opportunities. The question we ask ourselves repeatedly is that can we complement it with more technology and if not, then how can we re-engineer the things that we do.