Meet Oscar

Air New Zealand is bringing Oscar – its chatbot – to US and Canadian customers.

Oscar was first piloted last year in the New Zealand and Australia markets to assist customers with frequently asked questions, saving them time and offering a more personalized experience.

Just over a year on and Oscar’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology allows him to have more than 1,000 conversations each day and successfully answer 75% of questions asked – up from just seven percent on his first day (which is big in the bot world).

Air New Zealand’s chief digital officer, Avi Golan says: “Artificial intelligence has not only given our customers another quick and convenient way for them to interact with us and get travel information, but Oscar has also freed up our customer service agents to focus on handling more complex queries. Oscar has gone down well in Australasia and we’re now excited to release him to North America. We’re hoping the Americans and Canadians find Oscar as useful as the Kiwis and Aussies have.””

Along with assisting travellers, Oscar can sing songs and tell jokes.

Oscar’s capabilities are available on the carrier’s website as well as on the Air New Zealand mobile app. To connect with Oscar, go to https://www.airnewzealand.ca/help-and-contact from Canada … in the US, go to https://www.airnewzealand.com/help-and-contact .