No search, just vibes: Alaska Airlines plans "Vibe Quiz" destination recommendation engine

Are passengers ready to swipe left or right to narrow the search for their next vacation destination? Alaska Airlines aims to find out with the launch later this year of an AI-powered “Vibe Quiz” search.

Passengers will answer a few questions in the quiz-style interface, with the results used to generate the prompts that deliver destination recommendations through a Generative AI engine. This is the second GenAI search tool the company announced, building on its Inspire natural language search that launched earlier this year.

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Better than putting fares on sale

Bernadette Berger, the carrier’s Director of Innovation, shared at the World Aviation Festival in Amsterdam this week that fewer than 1% of the airline’s guests use the “Where we Fly” interface today. The Vibe Quiz, along with the Alaska Inspires search interface, aim to make Alaska Airlines the trusted source of recommendations for passengers. And, of course, to sell more tickets along the way.

And it seems to be working. Berger shared that conversion rates on the Gen AI-based search are comparable to those of fare sales. The company sees this as an opportunity to sell more tickets via these tools, without lowering prices along the way. That success, to Berger, “tells me that our guests are looking to travel, but they can’t find what they need, or they’re not having the confidence that that’s the right destination for them. So all of these things are part of a more holistic conversion strategy to make sure our guests find what they’re looking for and feel confident enough to buy.”

The strong conversion rate also gives Berger confidence that the tools are worth the investment, even if OpenAI raises prices, something likely necessary given the cash burn rate and repeated fundraising efforts at ever increasing (and difficult to justify) valuations.

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Grabbing passenger attention

Strong conversion rates are compelling, but only work if the carrier can increase the number of customers actually seeing the new search interfaces. Berger is optimistic that the social media-friendly nature of the Vibe Quiz will help on that front. The roll out planned for later this year will lean heavily on that for reach.

But is it AI?

Alaska Airlines is leaning on OpenAI to power the search engine. It is unclear, however, that there’s much need for generative AI or prompts to drive the Vibe Quiz. Sorting the hundred or so destinations the carrier serves into categories like city or beach, adventure or relaxation is relatively straightforward. And narrowing from there to the ones the carrier wants to promote at any given time does not seem like much of an “AI” experience. But that’s where things are headed today, and Alaska Airlines is on board with that plan.

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• No search, just vibes: Alaska Airlines plans "Vibe Quiz" destination recommendation engine
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• Breeze looks to grow Ascent cabin