A popular reverse action service from Air New Zealand is now a significant part of its fare distribution system following a major upgrade of the platform.
GrabASeat originally launched around three years ago and was only used ad-hoc to shift seats on specific occasions, but it did attract a reasonable following and was a useful way of offloading distressed fares.
Air New Zealand has now taken the plunge and relaunched the system as an always-on service, meaning there is a ticket deal available through reverse auction every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day.
The offers are automatically pulled in from the live inventory database of fares, both domestic and international routes.
Users register on the site, put in details for their payment method and then simply wait for the offer to start.
Once the auction begins, a clock counts down from the designated start price. When a user is ready to bid they stop the system and confirm the payment.
The fares about to go into the auction are displayed for 12 hours in advance, so users can establish which might be appropriate and when to return for the start of the countdown.
ANZ general manager for online and leisure, Dave Simmons, says the new system has been designed so that it can be re-skinned and deployed in markets outside of New Zealand.