Swedish startup Chatflights wants to position itself as the travel industry's future customer service, where AI's keen insight meets human empathy and problem-solving skills. “The mix of humans and AI is better than just humans or just AI,” says founder Alexis Barnekow.

In a world where AI and chatbots have redefined the customer service we once knew, Chatflights strives to preserve the human touch.

Founder Alexis Barnekow has developed a new model where AI and humans collaborate to optimize the customer experience when booking travel.

– When booking travel, sometimes you want quick answers and access to multiple options, and that’s best handled by AI. But sometimes you want someone who understands your preferences and helps you when there’s a problem – and that’s best handled by a human.

Chatflights stands out with its focus on customer value and uniqueness.

– We want to create a service that is as valuable as possible for the user, and then I believe that the mix of human and AI is better than just human or just AI. Alexis Barnekow compares Chatflight's service to apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

– In the world of chat, there are basically two types: ”live chat” (which is often seen on websites) and ”messaging” (which is found in mobile apps like WhatsApp or Messenger). The difference is that messaging apps offer mobile notifications that significantly improve the user experience. The user can send a message and then wait for a notification of the response, allowing them to focus on other things in the meantime. Desktop notifications and emails offered by live chat services cannot be compared to the convenience and efficiency of messaging notifications.

How do you stand out compared to traditional webchats?

– We do this by being a mobile app with notifications, which provides a better user experience. For example, users can mark urgent cases for faster help, and you can start a chat without an account. We also focus on AI solutions to streamline our service. We simply do not compromise on the customer experience. The fact that Chatflights offers communication via chat in an app has great advantages, according to Alexis Barnekow.

– But others don't like it as much. That's just the way it is, we can't be everything to everyone.

Is the biggest challenge that people have to download the app? The download requirement could be a barrier for older users, right?

– Many people believe that you should offer web chat because the threshold is lower, but then you have prioritized lower thresholds over the user experience – and that is wrong. You should always adopt the customer's perspective, and in our case, notifications are very important because a chat often lasts for several days or weeks. However, we also offer chat in a web app, just like WhatsApp, but it does not work without the mobile app. You must have notifications turned on in the app for it to work. You also cannot start the web app without first downloading the mobile app.

The company offers booking of points-based trips, which accounts for about half of its turnover, but what is growing the most is "complex trips", that is, long trips, group trips or combinations of hotel, rental car and flight.

– For certain types of travel, there is more at stake and more unknown factors such as visas, new rules at airports and other concerns. Then you want help from someone who is in control, and then our human support becomes valuable, and combined with AI it becomes very powerful.

Alexis Barnekow sees great potential for Chatflights in the international market, with plans to expand to the US and Canada.

– We believe that a combination of AI and humans delivers the most value when booking travel. AI provides quick answers and options, while humans understand customer preferences and solve problems. We strive to understand when the customer needs one or the other.