Customers of Ireland-based airline Ryanair can now search for flights, hotels, and flight statuses by voice command.
The functionality comes by way of Alexa, Amazon’s voice-controlled AI assistant. In a statement announcing the new feature, Ryanair described it as “Alexa voice recognition”, suggesting that the system can not only respond to speech prompts but also identify who is speaking, though it doesn’t look like customers can actually book flights based on voice authentication, at least not yet.
The new feature has been rolled out along with other improvements including new European flight connections and support for Apple Pay. The latter, at least, does support in-app payments, with customers able to confirm their purchases via the fingerprint recognition of Apple’s Touch ID authentication system.
The airline has also announced that roomier planes are coming, with new Boeing 737 MAX carriers scheduled to launch next spring with Zodiac “slimline” seats.
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