Airline Example

A leading global airline uses the Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP) to gain a unified, 360° view of its passengers, loyalty members, and corporate clients across travel products, booking channels, and service experiences.

By integrating data from flight reservations, loyalty programs, check-in systems, and digital interactions, the airline can better understand passenger behavior, anticipate travel needs, and deliver personalized, compliant experiences that increase loyalty and maximize revenue opportunities.

Please review Onboarding the Zeta Way for additional context prior to diving into this example.

Accounts

The airline operates multiple divisions, so they load data into two separate ZMP Accounts (e.g., Airline Domestic and Airline International) that are distinct and do not share customer-level data.
A parent account (Airline Parent) enables a unified master view across divisions for the purpose of analyzing KPIs such as passenger engagement, route profitability, loyalty performance, and cross-channel marketing outcomes.

People

The airline gathers traveler-based data from a wide variety of systems — including reservation platforms, loyalty programs, check-in kiosks, and mobile applications — unified into a consistent single customer view.

Identifiers

As multiple systems within the airline rely on different identifiers, the ZMP Identity Manager Service consolidates disparate passenger and corporate records into a single traveler identity.
Identifiers are linked using loyalty IDs, booking references (PNRs), and contact details such as email, phone, and passport number.

{
  "traveler_id": "T1234567",
  "loyalty_id": "SKY987654",
  "booking_reference": "PNR445566",
  "corporate_client_id": "CORP00123",
  "email": "alex.flyer@airline.com",
  "email_md5": "e13743a7f1db7f4246badd6fd6ff54ff",
  "email_sha256": "c3b2f8a5d01a9f6b7e9d4450c4a6b8e97d3c01f40d2b10b5a87f2a1d3e6c5b4f"
}

Contacts

The airline maintains contact data for both passengers and corporate clients to support multi-channel engagement — including flight updates, service notifications, and personalized offers.

{
  "email": "alex.flyer@airline.com",
  "phone": "+1-212-555-4567",
  "preferred_contact_channel": "Email",
  "secondary_phone": "+1-917-555-2345"
}

Properties

The airline enriches passenger and loyalty profiles with demographic, behavioral, and travel history data sourced from multiple operational systems. This enables advanced segmentation, route preference analysis, and personalization of flight and ancillary offers.

{
  "first_name": "Alex",
  "last_name": "Flyer",
  "gender": "Male",
  "age": 38,
  "loyalty_status": "Gold",
  "loyalty_points_balance": 48000,
  "tier_expiry_date": "2025-12-31",
  "preferred_airport": "JFK",
  "preferred_destination": ["LHR", "SFO", "DXB"],
  "seat_preference": "Aisle",
  "meal_preference": "Vegetarian",
  "last_flight_date": "2025-07-20",
  "lifetime_miles": 365000,
  "total_flights": 122,
  "corporate_traveler": false,
  "preferred_channel": "Mobile App"
}

Events

In addition to standard marketing events (e.g., campaign sends, opens, and clicks), the airline captures the following events to guide personalization, enhance the travel experience, and optimize operational engagement.

{
  "booking_reference": "PNR445566",
  "customer_id": "T1234567",
  "timestamp": "2025-05-10T10:32:00Z",
  "origin": "JFK",
  "destination": "LAX",
  "fare_class": "Economy Plus",
  "channel": "mobile_app",
  "total_amount_usd": 450.00
}

{
  "booking_reference": "PNR445566",
  "checkin_timestamp": "2025-06-01T06:45:00Z",
  "checkin_channel": "mobile_app",
  "seat_number": "14A",
  "boarding_group": "2"
}

{
  "flight_number": "AI102",
  "departure_airport": "JFK",
  "arrival_airport": "LHR",
  "departure_time": "2025-06-01T08:00:00Z",
  "aircraft_type": "Boeing 777-300ER",
  "status": "departed"
}

{
  "flight_number": "AI102",
  "delay_minutes": 120,
  "reason": "Weather",
  "notified_passengers": 253,
  "communication_channel": "SMS"
}

{
  "loyalty_id": "SKY987654",
  "points_earned": 1200,
  "points_redeemed": 500,
  "balance": 48000,
  "transaction_date": "2025-07-05T14:00:00Z",
  "source": "flight_activity"
}

{
  "source": "airline.com",
  "event_timestamp": "2025-07-10T17:15:00Z",
  "url": "airline.com/feedback",
  "score": 9,
  "comments": "Excellent service and smooth flight!"
}

Resources

The airline manages several reference data sets that power analytics, personalization, and service consistency across touchpoints.

{
  "resource_type": "aircraft",
  "aircraft_id": "ACFT777",
  "model": "Boeing 777-300ER",
  "capacity": 350,
  "crew_count": 12,
  "range_km": 13649,
  "wifi_enabled": true,
  "status": "Active"
}

{
  "resource_type": "route",
  "route_id": "RTE001",
  "origin": "JFK",
  "destination": "LHR",
  "distance_km": 5540,
  "average_load_factor": 0.89,
  "route_category": "International"
}

{
  "resource_type": "crew_member",
  "crew_id": "EMP1001",
  "firstname": "Jordan",
  "lastname": "Lee",
  "role": "Pilot",
  "base_airport": "JFK",
  "hire_date": "2018-04-10",
  "status": "Active"
}

{
  "resource_type": "offer",
  "offer_id": "OFR2025SUMMER",
  "offer_name": "Summer Fare Sale",
  "offer_description": "Up to 25% off on select destinations.",
  "start_date": "2025-06-01",
  "end_date": "2025-08-31",
  "discount_type": "Percent",
  "discount_value": 0.25,
  "channels": ["Email", "Website", "Mobile App"],
  "status": "Active"
}

Data Connections

The airline connects data from a variety of operational and marketing systems within its enterprise to create a unified, actionable traveler and operations view.