Insights / Success Story / How an ultra low-cost carrier transformed agent training with AI-powered simulations
How an ultra low-cost carrier transformed agent training with AI-powered simulations
A leading ultra low-cost carrier reimagined agent training with AI-powered conversation simulations, giving its Guest Care team a realistic space to practice and grow before every call.
Industries
Travel and hospitality
Use Cases
New hire training, tenured agent training
Company Description
The featured airline is a leading ultra low-cost carrier serving the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Its Guest Care team supports guests across phone, chat, email, and social media from seven contact centers worldwide.
Proven Results
↑ RPC
Higher revenue per call
Across voice and chat agents
Across voice and chat agents
↓ TTP
Faster time to proficiency
Agents progressed faster through nesting
Agents progressed faster through nesting
✓ Ready
Prepared agents
New hires reach the floor ready for complex calls
New hires reach the floor ready for complex calls
A new approach to Guest Care training
The airline partnered with Zenarate to give agents realistic AI-powered practice conversations before they take a single guest call. The goal: more prepared agents, more consistent training across sites, and better experiences for every guest who picks up the phone.
What changed for agents
- Higher revenue per call across voice and chat
- Faster time to proficiency during nesting
- Standardized competency scoring across contact centers
- Agents who feel ready for complex scenarios from day one
“We were doing role plays where scenarios would be given to agents in groups of two and they would switch back and forth playing guest and agent. This was a struggle for trainers to monitor and reporting was difficult.”
Specialist, Knowledge Management and Curriculum Development
The opportunity: turning policy knowledge into practiced skill
The headquarters training team ran a curriculum-wide gap analysis. Agents knew their policies and procedures well. What they needed were more opportunities to practice real conversations before they happened, so confidence could grow alongside knowledge.
The team identified four specific areas where a better training approach could make a measurable difference:
Scalable practice for every agent
Agent-to-agent role plays were hard for one or two trainers to monitor across virtual classes of 15 to 20. A scalable approach would let every agent get meaningful reps without stretching trainers thin.
Practice in a realistic environment
Training systems didn’t match the tools agents would use on live calls and chats. Closing that gap would mean agents arrive on the floor already fluent in the workflow.
One standard across every site
With training running in parallel across contact centers, the team wanted consistent certification scoring and clear visibility into how scores were assigned, so every agent is held to the same bar.
Confidence from the first call
With more practice time before nesting, agents could step into their first calls feeling prepared, and trainers could focus their coaching where it would help most.
Finding the right partner
The team wasn’t looking for just any training platform. They needed one flexible enough to scale across seven contact centers, with practice that felt true to live guest conversations and reporting detailed enough to coach with.
Their must-haves:
- Realistic practice that mirrors live guest conversations
- Detailed performance analytics for coaching
- A safe space for agents to practice and grow
- Assessments that scale consistently across every site
Why Zenarate
Zenarate’s AI-powered conversation builders gave agents realistic practice with an AI guest instead of a script. The platform’s software simulations mirrored the airline’s live systems, so agents practiced in the same environment they’d use on calls. Detailed reporting covered policy adherence and soft skills like tone and upselling, giving trainers a clear picture of where each agent shines and where coaching helps most.
“What really confirmed our decision was the conversation builders, the real-life practice, and the ability to replace our practical assessment.”
Specialist, Knowledge Management and Curriculum Development
Rolling it out
Implementation began with new voice agents at two contact centers, with Zenarate’s team partnering closely on the initial build. After strong pilot results, the airline expanded across all contact centers for both voice and chat.
“Having the Zenarate team support us through implementation and provide that initial build made all the difference. We were only required to be SMEs on our own processes.”
Specialist, Knowledge Management and Curriculum Development
Results: revenue, readiness, and confident agents
Revenue per call rose for both voice and chat agents. Time to proficiency dropped during nesting. Guest satisfaction (GSAT) and first call resolution (FCR) scores improved, even through a period of rapid strategic change that required major training updates.
How agents grow now
Agents receive personalized feedback from AI and from their trainers, with specific insight into where to focus next. They practice complex scenarios as often as they need before talking with a guest, growing both skill and confidence in a safe space. Trainers gain richer coaching tools and visibility, so they can support each agent where it counts.
How operations improved
Trainers report new hires reaching the floor more prepared, needing less hand-holding during nesting. AI-powered assessments brought consistency across sites and trainers, replacing hours of manual scoring with standards the HDQ team can track and refine.
What’s next
The team is expanding into generative AI simulations for richer, more varied practice, and applying Zenarate to refresher training for tenured agents. The gains in revenue per call point to even greater impact ahead as the program grows.
How an ultra low-cost carrier transformed agent training with AI-powered simulations
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