Is a Travel Support Chatbot Enough?

Delayed or stranded employees don’t need a help article or to create a support ticket. In this post, we dive into why traveling employees need more support – from a qualified human – than ever.

Flight Delays and Cancellations Are at a New High

If you’ve flown in the U.S. in the past three years, you know flights are very full and often delayed. There are many entrenched reasons:

• In 2024, delays and cancellations reached a new high, affecting 23% of U.S. passengers. That’s 236 million people! Disruptions were mostly driven by abnormal weather conditions. (source)
• Airlines have struggled for 4 years with significant pilot shortages. Estimates project a shortage of 649,000-674,000 pilots between 2024 and 2043 — significantly higher than previous forecasts. Regions like Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America will be the hardest hit. (source)
• In March 2025, Homeland Security ended the collective bargaining agreement for 47,000 TSA transportation security officers, further destabilizing the agency. (source)

Why do we bring this up? Because employees need support on the road, often urgently.

When companies rely on open bookings, employees are left searching for support solutions on their own,or standing in line for hours with everyone else. 

Stranded Employees Don’t Bother with Compliance

Chances are stranded employees aren’t pulling up a travel policy PDF to decide:

• Should they cancel a flight and book a new one, or wait for a delayed flight? 
• What happens if the flight is delayed until the next day?
• Should they accept a refund or a hotel stay from the airline? 
• If the airline doesn’t offer a hotel stay, can they book one? 
• If so, how much can they spend? 
• Can they expense the cost of an airport lounge while they work through the delay?

But, when you use travel management software, your team gains access to a dedicated support team via chat, phone, and email. It saves employees from the stress of handling travel issues on their own, aligns contingency plans with your travel policy, and saves the company money.

>> Related: How Much Is Increased T&E Policy Compliance Worth? <<

Is a Travel Support Chatbot Enough?

Conversational AI is at peak hype, but stranded employees don’t need a help article or to create a support ticket. They need immediate help from a trained travel agent with direct access to the real-time flight inventory in the Global Distribution System (GDS). And they need that support on any device with a charge.

Sadly, most tools push users to an in-app travel support chatbot. If travelers can get in touch with a real person, often the agents aren’t trained on GDS to assist travelers. One vendor even charges $29 for every live agent call.

>> Related: Customer Service Matters More to Us than Ever <<

TravelBank is proud to provide phone, email, and chat support 24x7x365:

• Our GDS-trained travel agents are standing by, in-app, via Slack, and over the phone – at no additional cost.
• Our remarkable CSAT score of 4.9 (out of 5) reflects the dedication and expertise of our extraordinary team.
• We consistently deliver fast, effective solutions, with an average response time of 2 minutes and average time to resolution of 7 minutes.

It’s no wonder Software Advice said we had the Best Customer Support of 2024!

Don’t Forget Duty of Care

There’s also the question of duty of care for travelers, and travel risk management (TRM). Duty of care is not simply an ethical or “company culture” consideration. It’s a legal standard, and failing to support traveling employees can result in lawsuits, especially when virtual meetings are near-universal. If organizations are requiring their employees to travel, they must take reasonable measures to keep employees (and their accompanying family) safe.

But when hurricane paths shift, wildfires spread, regions erupt into conflict, or employees fall seriously ill, organizations will have to scramble to identify affected employees if their detailed itineraries aren’t centralized.

Employees are demanding more simplicity, clarity, and transparency in travel. And not coincidentally, travel and finance managers are seeking the same. Software should create a better experience for employees, while controlling costs and improving efficiency.