Airlines have ambitious goals to transform their business with technology, whether by enhancing the traveler experience, boosting ancillary revenue, or improving operational efficiency. Yet legacy systems, built on outdated architectures, are holding airlines back from turning these ambitions into reality.
Investing in the right Offer and Order Management System is critical for delivering the experiences that travelers now expect. From dynamic offers to frictionless rebooking to the convenience of a digital shopping cart, the right Offer and Order Management System can redefine customer interactions and unlock new revenue opportunities.
Here are five key customer experiences any modern Offer and Order Management System should enable. By focusing on these while evaluating solutions, airlines can ensure they choose a technology partner that not only meets their needs but creates a foundation for long-term competitive advantage.
1. Seamless service, anytime, anywhere
From ticket changes to rebooking after a missed connection, travelers expect quick and seamless support regardless of the channel they use. Traditional passenger service systems (PSS) make this challenging due to fragmented customer information and legacy artifacts, like passenger name records (PNRs), e-tickets, and electronic miscellaneous documents (EMDs), which limit what changes can be made and how easily they can be executed. This leads to longer resolution times and limited scalability during disruptions.
A modern Offer and Order Management System breaks down information silos and removes the dependency on legacy artifacts. This enables actions that are difficult (or impossible) with current systems, such as changing a flight while maintaining upgrades, modifying a multi-passenger booking, or allowing third-party retailers, such as travel agents, to fully service disrupted bookings—reaccommodating passengers and preserving ancillaries without manual airline intervention. By unifying order information and enabling real-time data flow, the right Offer and Order Management System enhances not just the traveler experience but also streamlines operations across the entire servicing ecosystem.
2. Integrated journeys across air and ground
When travelers plan and book transportation beyond the flight—rail, car rental, airport transfers, and more—they juggle multiple sites and apps to piece together a fragmented itinerary. Legacy systems often lack the necessary integrations to seamlessly incorporate non-air content into the booking flow, forcing travelers to figure it out on their own.
A modern Offer and Order Management System removes that friction. With robust APIs and flexible data exchange, airlines can offer truly intermodal experiences, bundling multiple travel services into one order. This results in a more convenient experience for travelers and incremental revenue opportunities for airlines.
3. Dynamic offers that convert
Travelers today expect brands to deliver timely, relevant offers—tailored to their preferences, past engagement, loyalty status, location, and more. For airlines, this means moving beyond static fares and generic upsells to truly personalized interactions across the journey. Yet legacy systems, with siloed data and rigid architectures, limit real-time personalization. This results in missed engagement opportunities, especially in the pre-booking phase, when travelers are still exploring options and planning their trip.
A modern Offer and Order Management System should enable dynamic pricing, real-time recommendations, and seamless integration with customer data platforms. Combined with AI and machine learning, it allows airlines to engage travelers earlier in the journey by delivering relevant, dynamic offers while they are still dreaming and exploring. This kind of timely, data-driven engagement drives conversion and strengthens loyalty.
4. A shopping experience that inspires
While personalization can drive inspiration, the next step is turning that interest into action. No one goes to an airline website to shop—and that’s the problem. Most airline websites remain transactional and rigid, designed for one-off bookings rather than ongoing exploration or engagement. In contrast, travelers are used to browsing, comparing, and saving selections on e-commerce platforms—behaviors that drive higher conversion and increase spend.
A modern Offer and Order Management System helps close this gap by enabling intuitive shopping cart functionality and seamless bundling of flights, ancillaries, and third-party products. Travelers can build, manage, and save their trip over time, just like they would on any digital storefront. It also unlocks access to broader product offerings beyond the flight, making the shopping experience richer and more flexible. This ability transforms airline websites into dynamic retail environments, encouraging engagement and upsell at any time, not just during a one-off flight booking.
5. Enriched experiences beyond the flight
Travelers still see airlines mainly as flight providers, yet airlines are uniquely positioned to orchestrate the entire travel experience. Flights are just one part of the journey; the surrounding services—such as hotels, car rentals, tours, attractions, and insurance—represent a significant opportunity to deliver high-value, tailored experiences.
Other travel retailers already capitalize on this ecosystem. At Expedia Group, for example, flights accounted for only three percent of 2024 sales, with the majority coming from other products. Airlines can, and should, own this broader market.
A modern Offer and Order Management System makes it possible. By integrating real-time content from third-party providers, airlines can deliver personalized, context-aware offers at the right moment during the traveler’s journey—moving beyond one-off transactions to become trusted travel companions.
The case for modern retailing
To meet rising traveler expectations, airlines must move beyond legacy systems and embrace a modern retailing approach. Traditional architectures lack the flexibility and real-time integration needed to support personalized, dynamic, and seamless experiences. While a future-ready Offer and Order Management System must be free from the limitations of outdated technology, it also needs to coexist with legacy partners and systems during the transition, ensuring airlines can modernize without overhauling everything at once.
From ambition to execution
As airlines evaluate technology partners, enabling these customer experiences should be a baseline expectation. The right Offer and Order Management System doesn’t just modernize IT, it transforms how airlines engage with travelers, unlocking new revenue, increasing loyalty, and building resilience for the future. For those serious about becoming modern retailers, the question isn’t whether these capabilities are needed—it’s whether your technology can actually deliver them.
Visit the FLYR for airlines page or request a demo to learn more about our modern retailing solutions.
