Simply Contact reveals how airlines handle seasonal support spikes
WARSZAWA, POLAND — The aviation industry faces relentless pressure from seasonal demand spikes, but Simply Contact offers solutions in its newly released whitepaper.
Recent industry disruptions highlight these vulnerabilities. Southwest Airlines’ December 2022 holiday meltdown saw over 60% of flights canceled over 10 days, while American Airlines faced a Christmas Eve 2024 system outage that flooded customer service with rebooking requests.
Titled “Aviation’s Highs and Lows: Adapting Customer Support to Volume Spikes,” the document provides actionable strategies to help airlines navigate surges without sacrificing service quality.
From data-driven forecasting to flexible staffing, these insights aim to transform operational chaos into a competitive advantage.
Data-driven forecasting is non-negotiable
“The biggest challenge is having a large number of people trying to make contact at the same time. What works best is providing real-time information, offering alternatives quickly, and enabling self-management,” explains Joan Martínez Merino, Head of Customer Experience at LEVEL Airlines.
According to the whitepaper, it is no longer possible for airlines to guess about rising customer support numbers. Processing old information, current data, and external factors such as weather or public holidays should help predict demand accurately.
Proactive planning also involves macro-level insights, such as tracking religious pilgrimages or regulatory changes.
The whitepaper cites how airlines serving travelers scaled multilingual support ahead of time, avoiding bottlenecks. Without such foresight, companies risk overwhelmed agents, longer wait times, and reputational damage—issues that cost the industry millions annually.
Flexible workforce models
Simply Contact’s research reveals that successful airlines are moving beyond rigid staffing models toward more flexible approaches.
“Historical data helps to a degree, but it’s just as important to understand who your customers are, what they need, and why,” notes Jerry Angraven, Customer and Passenger Experience Specialist at Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Access Advisory Group.
The whitepaper advocates for a layered customer support team, comprising full-time agents for stability, seasonal hires for peak periods, and cross-trained employees who pivot roles as needed. This approach slashes costs while retaining expertise.
Simply Contact also highlights “blended models,” where agents switch between channels, such as voice, chat, or email, based on real-time demand.
The outsourcing provider’s case study with Wizz Air demonstrates these principles in action. During low seasons, this keeps teams well-utilized, answering chats when call volumes dip and ready to scale during crises. Such agility maintained the airline’s 85% agent utilization rate year-round and cut average handle times by 30%.
Automation and outsourcing balance efficiency
AI chatbots and self-service tools are crucial for deflecting routine queries, thereby freeing agents to focus on more complex issues.
The whitepaper notes that proactive notifications, such as SMS alerts during flight disruptions, can reduce inbound inquiries. However, the human touch remains vital, and airlines must seamlessly escalate frustrated passengers to live agents.
Outsourcing emerges as a scalable solution, with partners like Simply Contact offering bilingual teams and surge-ready pools.
Diversifying vendors across regions and languages further mitigates risk, ensuring coverage even during unexpected spikes.
Simply Contact recently ranked #499 in the OA500 2025, an objective index of the world’s top 500 outsourcing companies.
The company is also currently subscribed to the Outsource Accelerator (OA) Source Partner Program, a powerful tool that helps BPO firms with marketing, sales, and business intelligence.
