Norwegian carrier, Norse Atlantic Airways, has rolled out its digital disruption solution, Swiipr to three US airports, including John F Kennedy International in New York, Miami International and Los Angeles. The Norwegian airline has also announced plans to deploy the digital passenger compensation payments system at Harry Reid International Airport when it begins direct services between London Gatwick and Las Vegas later this month.
The paytech company is expanding its presence having secured £6m in funding earlier this year with Norse Atlantic the third carrier to integrate with its platform. It enables airlines to digitise disruption payments, greatly enhancing the passenger experience and driving cost efficiency by up to 60%.
Used by 26 airlines across 70 countries globally (28 in the US), Swiipr’s customers include a major flag carrier, whose 4,000 staff use the platform in over 167 of its airports.
This latest agreement builds on an existing collaboration between the two companies following the establishment of a partnership in May this year for Norse’s European operations.
Tanguy Le Meur, Customer Care Manager at the airline said: “We have been really impressed with the ease of use of Swiipr’s solution in our European operations and it was a natural progression to expand this into the US.”
Highlighting that European passengers have long had strong consumer rights when it comes to flight disruptions and compensation, he noted that US passengers were in a much weaker position.
“However recent moves form the US department for transport show a clear direction of travel in terms of giving US passengers better rights, which we welcome.”
Meanwhile, Tara Spielhagen, Co-founder and CEO of Swiipr, said: “We’ve seen an uptick in interest in solutions from both our existing partners with operations in the US and also US airlines this year. We expect this to increase further as US passenger rights become more aligned with those of European travellers.
“We already know that legacy airline compensation systems are unfit for purpose, but this problem is exacerbated further every time regulations change and require more frequent payments to customers. Legacy systems already cost airlines billions of dollars every year and they add to the stress passengers experience when suffering travel disruption. We’re living in a digital age and passenger compensation systems need to adapt to fit with consumers’ experiences in other areas of their lives.”
