The hourly rateisn’t the whole story.
Behind every resolved request is a larger operation: recruitment, training, supervision, systems and coverage. For airlines, that operation also has to handle disrupted flights, multiple languages and demand that never keeps office hours.
The problem / Support team costs.
See the full picture01 / The full operation
What you’re
really paying for.
The agent’s time is the most visible expense. The people, tools and capacity behind that time are part of the same bill. A fair comparison includes the whole operation.
Every resolution has an operation behind it.
- Pay & benefits
- Wages, employer taxes, insurance, retirement and paid leave.
- Recruitment & attrition
- Hiring replacements, onboarding and bringing new agents up to speed.
- Training & management
- Initial and ongoing training, team leads, scheduling and quality assurance.
- Offices & equipment
- Workplaces, computers, headsets, connectivity and IT support.
- Software & systems
- Contact center platforms, support tools and relevant system access.
- Capacity & coverage
- Paid time outside customer work, shift coverage and capacity for peaks.
- BPO charges
- For outsourced teams, the provider’s overhead, margin and any separate setup or training fees.
The measure that matters
Full support operating cost
Requests actually resolved
Your real cost
per resolution.
Divide the full cost of your support operation by the number of requests actually resolved.
How do you compare in-house and outsourced costs?
For an in-house team, include the costs above. For a BPO, start with the provider’s invoice and add costs your airline still carries. Count each cost once. Do not add costs already included in the invoice.
Compare the same period, scope and definition of a resolution. An agent-hour, a conversation and a resolved request are different measures.
For context, ContactBabel’s 2026 US guide reports an average of USD $7.20 per inbound call. That is a cross-industry benchmark, not an airline cost per resolution. Read the research.
02 / The air travel challenge
Requests surge.
Teams take time.
A team sized for a quiet day can struggle during a disruption. A team sized for every peak carries capacity through quieter periods. Air travel makes that balance especially difficult.
A disruption changes the equation.
- Support demand
- Staffed capacity
- Below capacity: paid time.
- The team is paid even when fewer requests arrive.
- Above capacity: waiting time.
- When requests outpace capacity, passengers have to wait.
Peaks arrive together.
A cancelled flight creates urgent requests together. Recruiting and training a team takes longer than a queue takes to form.
Explore volume surgesLanguages split capacity.
An available agent is not always an available agent in the right language. Coverage needs to match the passengers who need help.
Explore language coverageSupport never closes.
Passengers need support across time zones. Nights, weekends, leave and handovers all belong in the staffing plan.
Explore 24/7 availability
03 / The quality of the saving
Lower costs.
Less work, too.
Lower costs should come from solving requests with less effort, not asking passengers to bridge the gaps. Include repeat contacts, handoffs and unfinished work before declaring an efficiency gain.
Is the cost lower, or just less visible?
Apparent saving
The question to ask
- Lower hourly rates.
Does each request take more paid time to resolve?
Include supervision, training and the time spent finding someone with the right knowledge or permissions.
- Shorter conversations.
Does the passenger have to contact you again?
A quick reply is only efficient if it helps solve the problem. Count the follow-up work as part of the same request.
- More self-service.
Was the request resolved, or handed back to the passenger?
A form or a website can be helpful. It becomes a false saving when the passenger still needs someone to finish the job.
Better outcomes and lower cost should be the same project.
A different operating model
Reduce the operation.
Keep the expertise.
Humoniq costs USD $1 per resolution. Build a smaller, more skilled human team around it, and compare the full cost of the service, including the human support you retain.
Explore our pricing