Automating Tax Refund Process for a Low-cost Airline

The client's existing tax refund process was cumbersome and manual. Calculations were done considering PNR fee codes and changing flight status to calculate the tax refund amount and then processed on the PSS which lead to high error rate. IGT helped in automating the tax refund process by deploying a tailor made BOT which enabled the client to calculate refund amounts, update flight status, and process refunds automatically. And this resulted into error free refund process, reduced handling time of the request and increased productivity

Business Problem

The Tax Refund Process of the airline required complicated calculations. The tax refund amount was calculated considering the PNR fee codes and changing flight status, and later uploaded on the PSS for processing. The airline was facing many challenges because the entire process demanded high manual effort:

High error rate
Unable to achieve time-sensitive SLAs
Procedural compliances not followed every case

Benefits

50% reduction in average handling time for each request
Error-free processing of refunds
24/7 availability resulting in more productivity

About the Client

The airline is a renowned ‘Low-cost Carrier’ in the Asia Pacific region. It operates a fleet of A-320 family and provides convenient and reliable air travel to major Asian cities and the US. The airline flies passengers to 27 destinations in 8 countries.

Solution

IGT Solutions (IGT) assessed the existing process to identify the automation scope and areas that can be automated.
After due diligence, the entire process was automated and tailor-made. BOTS were deployed to calculate refund amounts, updating flight status, and processing refunds.
The BOT performs the following steps to calculate and process the refund –
- BOT receives excel input from contact center team with PNR list and refund amount
- BOT derives the scenario basis segments’ status and calculates applicable tax refund and validates with the amount in the excel
- BOT changes the flight status of applicable flight numbers in Go Now Application and processes Refund in Navitaire
- BOT updates back the flight status and refund processing status for every PNR in the BOT tracker