Kiwi.com to trial actions to make sure passengers catch flights during Champions League final weekend

We expect Madrid Barajas to be busier than normal — and we’re working to help our passengers

At Kiwi.com, we’re preparing for the worst during the Champions League final on 1 June — Liverpool losing to Spurs. But we’re also getting ready to test communications to passengers and the actions we can take during large events.

We have around 10,000 customers flying from the UK, back to the UK, and connecting through airports to Madrid in the period 27 May to 4 June.

We can also see a huge spike in arrivals at Barajas on 30 May, and in departures on 2 June.

It’s likely that any disruption in waiting times at check-in, immigration or security queues, at any airport on the route, could have a significant impact on passengers and on us — especially if a passenger doesn’t already know there’s a huge event taking place.

To make sure our passengers catch their flights, we’re testing a new process that allows us to communicate that we expect delays during events. We’re asking them to make sure they leave a bit of extra time to pass through the airport.

Connecting passengers may feel the greatest impact

We expect that the greatest impact could be on connecting passengers because they are restricted to the time they arrive — and therefore the time they have to catch their onward flight. So we’re going to monitor connection times over this period to see if they do increase.

And, because we’re already doing so much work with airports to optimise and minimise connection times and make sure our customers spend as little time queuing as possible, we’re going to examine whether we should have a presence and fast track during events at airports we’ve partnered with.

Eliška Dočkalová, Director of Customer Experience, said: “We are advising our travellers who are travelling from the UK to Madrid, back in the opposite direction, and those passing through Barajas to allow themselves extra time.

“If something goes wrong because of the security, baggage or immigration delays within the transiting and connecting airports, we have a dedicated Kiwi.com Guarantee team who will be assisting passengers in real-time. They will help passengers in the best possible way so they arrive at their final destination with as little hassle as possible

“At the minute, it’s a trial to see what we can do. Once we crunch the numbers, we hope to make travelling during big events that little bit easier.”