The top 10 AI agent platforms for airline contact centers in 2026

Airline contact centers are judged on their worst days. When storms or outages trigger irregular operations (IROPS), the airline term for mass delays, cancellations, and diversions, calls and chats spike at once. That's why carriers are evaluating AI agents for airline contact centers to handle rebooking, refunds, and questions from passengers around the clock.

But these platforms aren't built the same. Some are strongest at autonomous automation, where the AI resolves the request on its own. Others are stronger at augmenting human agents in real time or analyzing conversations after they end.

AI in the airline industry has moved well past the simple chatbot. To help you pick the best conversational AI for airlines, we'll break down the features, pros, cons, and best fit for each leading platform. But first, let's align on how we evaluated them.

Note: The information below reflects public vendor information at the time of publication and is subject to change.

Our methodology and evaluation criteria

The best AI agents for airline contact centers are Cresta, Cognigy (NiCE), Sierra, Decagon, ASAPP, Salesforce Agentforce, Amazon Connect, Genesys Cloud, Kore.ai, and PolyAI. Cresta ranks first for airlines that want AI agents, human agent guidance, and quality management on one platform. The others lead in narrower areas, such as voice-first automation or a native fit with an existing contact center stack.

We didn't rank vendors on containment alone, and here's why. Containment is the share of conversations an AI agent resolves without a human. Automation alone isn't enough for an airline, because a refund question that's routine on a calm day becomes emotional during a storm.

So we weighted how each platform treats human agents and quality, along with how much it automates. Here's what we looked at:

• AI agent scope: Which passenger tasks the AI agent can finish on its own, such as rebooking, refunds, baggage, flight status, and loyalty questions
• Disruption surge reliability: Whether accuracy and speed hold up when IROPS pushes contact volume far above normal levels
• Refund and policy accuracy: Whether the AI correctly applies the US Department of Transportation (DOT) automatic refund rule and EU passenger rights rules
• Post-handoff help for human agents: What a person sees after a handoff, the moment an AI agent passes a passenger to a human agent
• Quality management across AI and human: Whether one quality standard scores every AI and human conversation, so policy errors surface fast
• Voice quality and language coverage: How natural the AI sounds on noisy airport calls, and how well it handles accents and languages
• PSS integration: Whether it connects to your passenger service system (PSS), the core system for reservations and check-in, such as Amadeus, Sabre, or Navitaire
• CCaaS integration: Whether it works with your contact center as a service (CCaaS) platform, the cloud software that routes calls and chats
• CRM and loyalty integration: Whether the AI can read passenger history, trip details, and loyalty status from the systems you already run

We based this review on vendor documentation, public case studies, press releases, and analyst reports. Where a vendor hasn't named an airline customer in public, we say so.

The best AI agent platforms for airline contact centers

Every entry below, including Cresta's, carries real cons and a limitations note. Use the table for a quick comparison of this AI call center software, then read each entry for detail.

The last two columns matter most on disruption days. They show what happens after the AI hands a passenger to a person, and whether you can score both sides with one standard.

1. Cresta

Cresta is the AI operating system for CX. It's a unified platform for human and AI agents built on Cresta AI Agent, Cresta Agent Assist, and Cresta Conversation Intelligence.

All three share one conversation record. Cresta Opera, the no-code orchestration engine underneath, is where teams build, test, and deploy the AI workflows that power them.

Because guidance, quality management, and coaching run off the same record, insight from one IROPS event shapes what agents see during the next. Cresta AI Agent covers voice and digital channels and reasons over the whole conversation, so passengers don't have to start over when they raise a second request.

Pros:

• Built from each airline's own data: Cresta AI Agent is built from and trained on each airline's own conversation data, so it reflects how that airline's passengers ask for help
• Context carried across handoff: Agent Assist gives the human agent full context and live guidance on rebooking, refunds, and policy, so passengers don't repeat themselves
• Every conversation scored: Conversation Intelligence scores every AI and human conversation and surfaces contact drivers during irregular operations
• Guardrails and live oversight: Layered guardrails, testing, and monitoring through the Agent Operations Center keep AI answers on policy
• United Airlines proof: United Airlines uses all three products, with AI Analyst informing decisions during real-time events and policy changes
• Alaska Airlines proof: Alaska Airlines uses real-time contact-reason insight to find and fix issues the same day instead of weeks
• Spirit Airlines proof: Spirit Airlines used Cresta to transform its contact center quality and insights programs

Cons:

• Built for large enterprise operations: Cresta fits carriers with large contact centers best, so a small regional airline may not use the full platform
• Broad platform takes planning: Rolling out AI agents, agent guidance, and QM together takes upfront planning across CX, IT, and quality teams

Limitations: Airlines that only want a basic flight-status chatbot may find the full platform more than they need.

Best for: Airlines that want AI agents, human agent guidance, and quality management on one platform, with insight from every conversation feeding all three.

Get a closer look at how Cresta's AI agents for airlines can work by testing them.

2. Cognigy (NiCE)

Cognigy is an enterprise conversational and agentic AI platform for voice and chat. It's now part of NiCE, which pairs it with the NiCE CXone contact center suite. That makes it a natural fit for carriers already invested in NiCE tools.

Pros:

• Public airline deployment: Lufthansa Group runs Cognigy AI agents for rebooking, refunds, and alternative flight options
• Multilingual voice and chat: The platform handles both channels in many languages, which fits carriers with global route networks
• Travel-ready language models: Pre-trained airline models understand terms like airport codes without heavy custom setup

Cons:

• Roadmap tied to NiCE CXone: Product direction now follows NiCE's priorities, which matters if you run a different CCaaS
• Separate human-side QA: Quality management for human agents lives in other NiCE products, so AI and human scoring may not share one view

Limitations: Confirm how Cognigy and NiCE quality tools share data before you count on one standard across AI and human agents.

Best for: Large carriers, especially on NiCE CXone, that want multilingual voice and chat automation for high-volume rebooking.

Related: A guide to Cognigy alternatives

3. Sierra

Sierra is an AI agent platform built around goals, guardrails, and supervisory oversight. It runs across voice, chat, and email, with Live Assist available for human agents after handoff.

Pros:

• Travel use cases mapped out: Sierra's travel page covers rebooking after delays and cancellations, upgrades, bags, and loyalty questions
• Proactive disruption outreach: A public demo shows an AI agent calling passengers about flight disruptions before they call in
• Airline-aware testing: Sierra's public voice benchmark includes airline tasks, which signals investment in this vertical

Cons:

• No named airline customer: We found no airline that Sierra names publicly as a customer, so ask for a closer reference
• AI-focused analytics: Sierra's Insights suite analyzes AI agent conversations, not the human agent conversations that handle hard IROPS cases

Limitations: Confirm that Live Assist and your human-side QA tools can cover escalated disruption calls before you commit.

Best for: Airlines that want guardrail-heavy AI agent automation and are open to being an early airline reference.

Related: A guide to Sierra alternatives

4. Decagon

Decagon builds AI agents for chat, email, voice, and SMS. Teams write agent operating procedures in natural language, and an Assist copilot helps human agents.

Pros:

• Named airline customers: Delta Air Lines and American Airlines were named as customers in Decagon's recent product announcement
• Plain-language procedures: CX teams can write and edit agent operating procedures in natural language instead of code
• Copilot for human agents: The Assist product gives human agents suggested replies and context during live conversations

Cons:

• Test voice maturity: Ask how Decagon's voice product compares with its chat product, since airline disruption traffic is often voice-heavy
• Check human-side QA: Confirm whether quality management covers human agent conversations as deeply as AI conversations

Limitations: Test voice performance under a disruption-style surge as well as on routine digital requests.

Best for: Digital-first airlines that want fast-moving AI agents across chat and messaging, with voice added over time.

Related: A guide to Decagon alternatives

5. ASAPP

ASAPP offers GenerativeAgent, a generative AI agent for voice and digital channels. It also has tools that augment human agents, such as automatic call summaries.

Pros:

• Public airline relationships: JetBlue runs its virtual assistant on GenerativeAgent, and American Airlines is named as a customer
• Voice and digital coverage: The AI agent works across phone and digital channels, which fits carriers with mixed contact patterns
• Agent summaries: AutoSummary writes the after-call notes, so human agents move to the next passenger faster

Cons:

• Check QA and analytics breadth: Confirm how far ASAPP's conversation analytics and quality management extend to human agent conversations
• Ask who owns the build: Ask how much of the build ASAPP's team handles and how much direct control your team keeps over changes

Limitations: Ask how quickly your team can update refund and waiver logic on its own when policies change mid-disruption.

Best for: Large carriers that want a generative AI agent paired with tools for human agents.

Related: A guide to ASAPP alternatives

6. Salesforce Agentforce

Agentforce is Salesforce's agentic AI layer on Service Cloud and Data Cloud. It lets AI agents act on CRM records, cases, and loyalty data, often through email and digital channels.

Pros:

• Several airline deployments: Air India uses Agentforce for refund and name-change workflows, and Southwest Airlines uses it for self-service
• Singapore Airlines adoption: Singapore Airlines announced Agentforce for customer service, adding another global carrier reference
• Native CRM and loyalty data: AI agents can read passenger history and loyalty status without a separate integration

Cons:

• Strongest inside Salesforce: The value drops if your service desk, CRM, or loyalty data live outside the Salesforce stack
• Ask about the voice path: Ask whether voice calls run through telephony partners, which would add a vendor to test during surges

Limitations: Map which parts of the voice path Salesforce owns and which a partner owns before disruption testing.

Best for: Airlines already running Salesforce Service Cloud that want AI agents working on their existing data.

7. Amazon Connect

Amazon Connect is the AWS cloud contact center, with agentic AI self-service and agent assist built in. It covers many languages and offers AI agents that can rebook flights.

Pros:

• Large airline customers: American Airlines and Air Canada both run their contact centers on Amazon Connect
• Airline reference architecture: AWS publishes a design that links the contact center to PSS, loyalty, and baggage tracing systems
• Broad language coverage: Built-in speech and language services cover many passenger languages

Cons:

• Check engineering needs: Ask how much skilled AWS engineering it takes to design and maintain your flows
• Ask about QA and coaching: Confirm whether deeper quality management and coaching require extra tools or partners

Limitations: Plan for engineering capacity to keep refund and rebooking flows current as rules change.

Best for: Airlines with strong AWS engineering teams that want to build their own contact center AI.

8. Genesys Cloud

Genesys Cloud is a CCaaS platform that Genesys now positions as an agentic orchestration platform. It includes Agentic Virtual Agent for self-service and Agent Copilot for human agents.

Pros:

• Public airline story: Virgin Atlantic has shared a public results story on its use of Genesys AI
• Orchestration across channels: Routing, self-service, and agent tools run in one system across voice and digital
• Native workforce management: Staffing and scheduling tools sit inside the platform, which helps with surge planning

Cons:

• Test each AI module: Ask how mature each AI feature you plan to use is, and test each one in your pilot
• Best value on Genesys: The AI tools make the most sense if Genesys is already your CCaaS

Limitations: Confirm which AI features need extra licenses or modules before you scope a pilot.

Best for: Airlines already on Genesys Cloud that want to add AI agents without changing contact center platforms.

Related: A guide to Genesys alternatives

9. Kore.ai

Kore.ai is a no-code AI agent platform for voice and chat with broad language coverage. Its Agent AI product helps human agents during live conversations.

Pros:

• Airline case study: Kore.ai has published a case study with a leading US airline on contact center efficiency
• No-code building: Business teams can design and change AI agents without writing code
• Wide language reach: Broad language coverage fits carriers with passengers from many regions

Cons:

• Unnamed airline proof: The airline in the case study isn't named, which makes it harder to check the reference
• Ask about setup effort: Ask how much configuration complex airline flows need, even with no-code tools

Limitations: Ask to speak with the airline from the case study, or a similar carrier, before you shortlist.

Best for: Airlines that want no-code control over AI agents and need wide language coverage.

Related: A guide to Kore.ai alternatives

10. PolyAI

PolyAI builds voice-first AI agents for customer service. It works on top of common CCaaS platforms such as Genesys, Avaya, Amazon Connect, and Cisco.

Pros:

• Natural voice on noisy calls: PolyAI is built to handle background noise and many languages, which matches calls from busy airports
• Travel use cases: Its travel page covers booking changes, disruption help, and round-the-clock help for international travelers
• Travel proof with Hopper: Online travel agency Hopper uses PolyAI voice agents, and PolyAI has published guidance on the DOT refund rule

Cons:

• Confirm digital coverage: Confirm whether PolyAI covers chat or messaging, or whether you'll need another vendor for digital channels
• No named airline customer: Its public travel proof comes from an online travel agency and hotels, not a carrier
• Ask about human-side QA: Ask how PolyAI supports quality management for human agent conversations, or whether that needs another tool

Limitations: Plan how PolyAI voice data will join your digital and human agent data for one view of service quality.

Best for: Airlines that want voice-first automation layered on their current CCaaS.

Questions to ask every vendor on your shortlist

Once you've narrowed down your list, ask each vendor the following questions. Push for evidence you can test in your own environment.

Test Cresta AI Agent for airlines before you commit

You don't have to take any of the claims about Cresta on faith. A scoped pilot lets your team check them against your own passengers, policies, and systems.

In a pilot, you can test Cresta AI Agent under a disruption-style surge and check transcription accuracy across accents. You can confirm the PSS and CCaaS integration and watch Agent Assist guide human agents on escalated rebooking and refund cases.

The goal is proof over promises: results on your own data, reviewed by your own CX and IT teams. Request a demo to scope a pilot around the contact reasons that matter most to your airline.

Final thoughts

Your shortlist depends on what you need. Some airlines want automation only, others want an AI layer native to their CCaaS, and others want one platform for AI and human agents.

Whatever you pick, start with why passengers contact you. Some contacts shouldn't happen at all, like calls caused by a confusing rebooking notice, so fix the root cause first. Others, like flight status and bag tracking, are routine requests where AI agents shine.

High-emotion moments, like a family stranded after a missed connection, still need a person, with AI pulling context behind the scenes. And some conversations should happen but don't, like proactive outreach before a delay, which AI makes possible at scale. A platform that can analyze, automate, and augment covers all four.