Virgin Atlantic’s AI Concierge Across Platfoms with OpenAI

Virgin Atlantic has introduced its AI-powered Concierge service, a new system integrated into the Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Atlantic Holidays websites.

Developed with the digital design firm Tomoro and using technology from OpenAI, the service allows customers to plan and book their travel through text, voice or image commands.

The Concierge is designed to manage a range of customer needs, including flight searches, holiday bookings and queries related to the Flying Club loyalty programme.

The system is also built to learn from customer conversations to suggest more relevant travel options.

This functionality is planned for integration into a mobile app scheduled for release in 2026.

“Our new Concierge reimagines how we connect with our guests,” says Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Experience Officer at Virgin Atlantic..

“It listens, understands and responds, helping to plan holidays and flights with the same intuitive care you’d expect from our teams.”

Virgin Atlantic's move to adopt OpenAI as a primary partner followed several years of testing various enterprise AI solutions.

According to Oliver Byers, Chief Financial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, the decision was made after successful pilots of ChatGPT Enterprise with internal teams.

The CFO perspective on enterprise AI

For Oliver, the business case for the investment was clear.

As a smaller airline relative to some of its global competitors, Virgin Atlantic views technology as a crucial enabler to gain a competitive edge and help address the disadvantages of scale.

“Being a smaller airline compared to our global competitors means we need to find smart ways to offset scale disadvantages. Leading-edge technology gives us that edge,” he says.

The investment has led to the deployment of hundreds of custom GPTs across various departments within Virgin Atlantic.

This adoption of AI tools is not limited to customer-facing products but extends to internal operations, where it is already showing results.

“We can see the benefit that it brings day to day… it’s delivering tangible benefit. From any CFO’s perspective, you can’t ignore it – you’ve got to embrace it,” Oliver explains.

AI integration and operational efficiency

The impact of AI on the engineering teams has been substantial.

Development teams now use AI coding tools like Codex, which helps to accelerate the process of shipping new features.

In an industry where the quality of the digital experience can directly influence bookings, this increased speed is a key advantage.

HR departments have built GPTs to handle policy-related questions, while finance teams are using AI to analyse performance data and assist in drafting reports.

“We’ve seen massive adoption of the technology... ultimately what that results in is us getting more code written at a faster pace in front of our customers to give a better experience,” he says.

Designing the digital concierge experience

The development of the Concierge service was more complex than a simple integration of OpenAI's APIs.

Tomoro collaborated closely with Virgin Atlantic to translate Virgin Atlantic's distinct customer service ethos into a functional chatbot interface.

“We’ve worked closely with Virgin Atlantic to capture what makes their service special: the warmth, the expertise, the personal touch their team brings to every interaction,” explains Sam Netherwood, Co-Founder and Head of Design at Tomoro.

The system is designed to handle straightforward queries autonomously while escalating more complex or sensitive issues to human agents.

To gauge the effectiveness of the Concierge, Virgin Atlantic is tracking metrics such as engagement rates, customer satisfaction scores and revenue.

Nicolai Skabo, EMEA Enterprise Leader at OpenAI, highlights Virgin Atlantic as a key example of how airlines can leverage AI for both internal employee tools and external customer-facing products.

He says: “We’re proud to help Virgin Atlantic bring the benefits of AI to every part of its business.

“With its new digital Concierge, Virgin Atlantic is integrating advanced intelligence into each stage of travel... showing how leading brands like Virgin Atlantic can deliver intuitive, on-brand service at scale to elevate service and streamline operations.”