How British Airways’ Customer Service Is Soaring To New Heights Through Data-driven AI Innovation
Challenge
In the post-pandemic travel surge, British Airways faced a critical inflection point in their customer service operations. With overwhelming call volumes straining their contact centres, the airline struggled to maintain service standards expected of a premium carrier. Contact centre staff were under immense pressure, customer frustration was mounting, and the airline’s brand reputation was at risk. Most critically, BA lacked clear visibility into why customers were reaching out, making it impossible to implement effective solutions. This blind spot in customer understanding prevented the airline from making meaningful improvements to their service delivery.
Solution
British Airways partnered with Sabio Group to implement a comprehensive data-driven transformation strategy, centered around an innovative Intent Capture & Analysis (IC&A) project. By analysing 35,000 calls through Sabio’s Console Conversational AI platform, they gained unprecedented insights into customer behaviour. The project revealed that seven out of their top ten contact reasons were unexpected, fundamentally changing their understanding of customer needs. Leveraging Twilio and Google Cloud Dialogflow technology, alongside Sabio’s specialists, BA developed sophisticated customer intent mapping and implemented optimised routing strategies, identifying 120 distinct call intents that would inform future service improvements.
Results
calls were analysed
‘faster routes to resolution’
implemented
workload reduction for the contact centre
The transformation delivered remarkable financial and operational benefits. Contact centre workload reduced by 22%, while successfully managing significant volume spikes, including a 70% increase during Heathrow strikes. The system improved First Contact Resolution rates through 60+ new ‘faster routes to resolution’ and enhanced self-service capabilities. Employee experience transformed with reduced pressure during high-volume periods and more varied work as routine queries became automated. The initiative’s success led to an extended partnership with Sabio for future phases.
