EasyJet to introduce voice-activated booking technology

New feature will help visually impaired customers

easyJet is set to roll out voice-activated technology for the booking process (Simon Calder)

EasyJet is rolling out voice-activated technology to make the booking process more accessible, in particular for visually impaired passengers.

The “Speak Now” function on the budget airline’s app will allow customers to search for flights using just their voice.

The system, which will use Google Cloud’s language understanding tool, works in a similar way to Siri on an iPhone.

The feature will ask the customer questions to figure out exactly which flights they want to take, including destination, date and departure airport.

EasyJet claims that the voice technology speeds up the booking process. Rather than the 12 taps needed to book a flight in the typical way, the Speak Now features takes “seconds” with just a “few vocal steps”.

The feature is currently only available in English.

“We are continually striving to make booking a flight more accessible for customers, especially those who are visually impaired, and Speak Now helps us achieve this objective,” said Daniel Young, head of digital experience at easyJet.

“We continue to place innovation at the heart of our industry-leading mobile travel app to give our customers the tools they need to have a smooth experience booking flights with us. Embracing this latest technology makes preparing for travel easy and fun.”

Last year, easyJet rolled out an app feature that would allow passengers to book flights to destinations based on their favourite images.

The “Look&Book” tool means customers don’t even have to know where they want to go. Instead, they can select their favourite, dreamy-looking Instagram snap through the easyJet app, which uses recognition technology to identify the location and find the nearest airport.