HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions), a leading global travel technology platform, has announced ‘HTS Seat Upgrades’ a new ancillary offering for airlines looking to delight travellers with an upgraded onboard experience. HTS’ end-to-end platform allows airlines to monetise unsold inventory with three products:
- Cabin Upgrades offer travellers the option to upgrade to upper cabins, such as Business, Premium Economy or First Class.
- Seat Upgrades allows travellers to opt for preferred seats within the same cabin – first rows, extra legroom or recline, and more.
- Empty Seats provides travellers the opportunity to block one or multiple free seats next to them for extra comfort at a minimal cost.
HTS Seat Upgrades integrates to the airline’s Passenger Service System (PSS), including inventory, reservation and departure control, as well as the airline’s payment gateway, providing a turnkey end-to-end solution. The customisable white-label upgrade flow allows carriers to maintain brand consistency, while API integration is available for those preferring a fully native experience. At the core of this solution is the embedded Price-Builder from HTS, which empowers the airline to configure dynamic upgrade offers at the most granular level using real-time PNR context and inventory signals. On top of that, with the platform’s unique and holistic multi-cabin optimisation capability, airlines can offer upgrades to intermediate cabins even when they appear full, as it optimises availability across the entire aircraft, not just within a specific cabin.
With dynamic offer capabilities, enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven autopilot pricing optimisation, and the introduction of HTS’ Empty Seat product, airlines can access a widely untapped revenue stream and elevate the customer experience. In fact, airline partners can experience +20% increase in unit revenue from seat upgrades when implementing HTS’ Seat Upgrades platform.
Corsair is already leveraging HTS’ Cabin Upgrades to provide an elevated experience for its customers. The Price-Builder allows instant upgrade prices or bid starting points to be dynamically generated based on available inventory in the target cabin and advance purchase. HTS’ modern white-label upgrade flow is embedded into Corsair’s key customer touchpoints such as online check-in, post-booking emails, and the Manage My Booking page, ensuring a smooth and consistent customer experience. HTS Seat Upgrades is integrated to Corsair’s Payment gateway and PSS, including inventory, reservation and departure control systems, providing a turnkey end-to-end solution.
“Our holistic upgrade solution captures high-intent users across multiple touchpoints in the customer journey, allowing our airline partners to generate a new revenue stream and delighting travellers with an upgraded onboard experience,” said Ella Alkalay Schreiber, SVP & GM of Fintech at Hopper and HTS. “Our optional bidding approach prevents cannibalisation and lets our airline partners manage offers right before departure, creating a win-win for customer satisfaction and monetisation.”
