All Nippon Airways (ANA) has launched a WeChat mini-program for booking and purchasing tickets on ANA-operated flights in China, giving customers access to real-time seat availability, reservations, payments, changes and refunds within Tencent’s messaging app. The service began on 20 October and accepts WeChat Pay, which was previously unavailable through ANA’s website and apps.
The ANA WeChat Mini-Program does not require a separate airline application. Customers can find it by searching for “ANA” or “全日空” in WeChat, or by scanning a QR code. Booking confirmations, ticket-issuance notifications and information about flight changes are delivered through WeChat messages.
The booking and ancillary-service functions use the International Air Transport Association’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard to exchange relevant information. ANA has not specified the complete range of eligible routes, fares or ancillary products available through the mini-program.
The initial focus is China, where WeChat has more than one billion users. ANA plans to add flight-status information, online check-in and further NDC-enabled ancillary services, extending the platform beyond ticket sales and post-booking servicing.