Facebook has made no secret of the fact that it wants to do bigger things with Messenger than simply messaging. Now, if you fly KLM, you’ll be able to manage your flights by interacting with a specially designed bot.
Facebook has announced that KLM’s Messenger bot is already up and running for some users and will roll out more widely soon. When you book a ticket with the airline you’ll be given the option to manage the booking via Messenger—after which you’ll receive itinerary details, boarding passes, check-in confirmation and delay notifications via the app. You’ll also be able to chat back, with humans answering the tricky questions.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Facebook was planning to help third-party companies to build an army of chatbots that would serve as customer service foot soldiers. Uber already had one, now so does KLM. This might finally be the start of Messenger becoming a platform that other brands and businesses can use to provide their services, rather than just a channel through which we communicate.
