Flybondi, a low-cost carrier based in Argentina, is allowing passengers to resell their tickets and, in exchange, earn a cut of any profit made by selling the ticket for a higher price than it was originally sold for.
Gatekeepers News reports that Flybondi introduced a new platform from travel technology startup TravelX that allows resale of airline tickets.
The system creates an NFT ticket alongside the original ticket, which is stored on the blockchain. The two tickets are synchronized and have the same fare rules, seat numbers and itineraries, allowing Flybondi to trace the NFT ticket even as it is resold or transferred to someone else.
The technology currently allows resells up to 72 hours before departure, enabling both Flybondi and TravelX to earn a transaction fee whenever the ticket changes hands, aviation website Aviacion Al Dia reports.
The new program will initially only be open for domestic flights, but Flybondi plans to open it to international flights too, travel blog SimpleFlying reported.
Flybondi CEO Mauricio Sana explained that resales had obvious advantages for both customers and the airline.
To buttress his point, Sana described a situation in which Flybondi might sell a ticket at a deep discount, only to find that demand for flights suddenly goes up, and it could have sold the ticket for a much higher price.
While the airline regrets selling the original ticket at such a low price, the passengers holding the ticket would realise they could make money by putting it up for sale. Flybondi then recovers some of the ‘lost’ revenue while the passenger makes a profit on their unwanted ticket.
Similarly, passengers who have bought otherwise non-refundable tickets might be able to recoup some of their money if they suddenly find that they are no longer able to take the flight they had booked.
TravelX is hopeful that the ability to resell airline tickets will become widely available, and the company says it is already in talks with 60 other airlines about its NFT ticket technology.
