bmi is moving from Amadeus WDS to Amadeus XML which will deliver significant customer benefits and a much smoother customer journey.

The phased implementation, which will be complete by summer 2010, is a bespoke redesign of the customer journey, working in line with the existing flybmi.com site, and maintaining a stable and secure environment throughout. bmi’s internal e-commerce team will be managing the changes to enable future changes to be implemented much quicker. 

 

Additional features of the enhanced booking engine from July will include;  enhanced prime flight booking flow reducing from a seven step to five step process and shopping basket functionality to include ancillary products such as hotels and travel insurance – thus meaning the customer will be able to dynamically package the diverse elements of their travel.  The airline will also have increased flexibility to upload promotional fares. 

 

By the end of 2009 the site will feature further ancillary products, such as car hire and airport parking, a ‘manage my booking’ facility, and by the summer 2010 a rebooking and group booking function, as well as the ability to book open jaw and multi leg journeys. 

 

Commenting on the changes, Tamarah Khatib, bmi’s Head of Online, stated, ‘We have an award-winning website, but it’s our objective to continue improving the customer experience.  The changes we are making mean travellers have the opportunity to use the site as a one stop shop in a quicker, more transparent, smoother, single transaction.  There’s also a commercial objective, to increase sales conversions online and boost revenue from the sales of ancillary products.’

 

The new website booking engine is part of a series of improvements bmi has made to flybmi.com. The airline recently picked up an award at the prestigious TravelMole Awards for the bmi website.  The award, announced at a ceremony at Canada House on 25 June, was voted for by TravelMole subscribers and judged by an independent panel. Voters commented on the user-friendliness, simplicity and rich content of the site, with bmi being particularly praised for embracing user generated content, and for its stylish design and savvy destination guides. The new booking engine will certainly be another welcome addition to this award winning website.

bmi is the airline for business travellers operating more than 1800 flights from London Heathrow every week to 47 destinations across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  Along with the UK’s most generous frequent flyer programme, Diamond Club, Business travellers with bmi can check-in online, use self check-in machines or priority check in areas and also have access to the bmi Business Lounge with a fast track through security.