How Allianz Partners and Delta collaborate to drive innovation and serve travelers

Travel demand is surging, as travelers put the pandemic behind them and indulge in long-delayed trips. Following years of disruption, travelers are gravitating toward trusted brands, with many seeking protection against unforeseen circumstances. For airlines, creative partnerships are essential to providing superior service throughout the trip – not just when customers are in the air.

An airline’s partners serve as an extension of the brand, so it’s crucial to choose a partner with shared values that will deliver on the brand promise. The best partnerships are collaborative and can help to drive innovation as the industry evolves. Case in point: The long-standing partnership between Delta Air Lines and Allianz Partners US is built upon a foundation of trust and a long history of working together to create solutions. 

Tom Trotta, vice president of sales and partnerships at Allianz Partners and Ai Stiver, vice president of merchandising, ancillary revenue and partnerships at Delta, explain how the two companies are collaborating.

Choosing the right partner is an important decision for airlines, since the traveler’s experience with that partner reflects on airline’s own brand. Why has Delta chosen to work with Allianz Partners?  

Ai Stiver: One key component to choosing a partner is the alignment of key brand beliefs. Delta and Allianz Partners both believe in creating loyal lifetime customers through caring, welcoming and elevated products and experiences. For the past 15-plus years, we have worked together to deliver innovative products to meet our travelers’ needs. 

How has the partnership between Allianz Partners and Delta evolved? 

Tom Trotta: Our collaboration with Delta, which began in 2007, has always been rooted in innovation and adaptability. Over these years, we've protected over 45 million Delta customers and billions of dollars of trips. Whether a traveler is booking a refundable ticket, a package or a car, we've created tailored insurance solutions to meet their needs. 

Our partnership's primary facet is our API integration, as seen in Delta's air ticketing path, where travelers on Delta.com encounter embedded insurance offers. We've also extended our partnership to Delta Vacations, offering insurance products that complement their existing services. For Delta's hotel and car booking services, powered by Expedia, we've introduced dedicated rental car insurance offers, marking yet another milestone in our partnership.

Can you give an example of Allianz Partners and Delta working together to come up with new products and solutions? 

Stiver: Delta is also enhancing ways to earn toward status not just in the air, but also on the ground, including the ability to reserve rental cars through Delta and its car rental partners. To ensure our customers have protection and peace of mind on their journey, Delta and Allianz Partners have worked together this past year to offer a protection product for car rentals. 

How have Allianz Partners and Delta collaborated to find creative solutions as industry needs change? 

Trotta: One of our key strengths is our dedicated cross-functional teams, comprising sales, optimization specialists, copywriters and graphic designers, so that the same team consistently works with Delta. The team knows the DNA of Delta’s passengers, making it possible to respond quickly in response to changes in the travel landscape. This consistency was particularly beneficial during the pandemic when seamless coordination was paramount. 

At the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, many of our policies globally excluded epidemic coverage. Leveraging insights from Allianz Partners' broader health division, by March 2020, we made a pivotal decision to treat COVID-19 similar to other covered illnesses through a special accommodation. Even though this resulted in significant costs, it was the right thing to do for our customers and speaks further to our shared values with Delta in creating loyal lifetime customers. 

As the situation changed, we continued to develop new products. For example, when islands in the Caribbean mandated minimal levels of coverage for medical evacuation, Allianz Partners worked with Delta Vacations to create a new policy and increase both emergency medical care and transportation coverage limits specifically for travelers to those destinations. 

How does Delta’s partnership with Allianz Partners help to advance Delta’s brand objectives?

Stiver: At Delta, we strive to drive connection by sharing warmth, instilling confidence and ensuring peace of mind. In the unfortunate circumstance that travel doesn’t go as planned, there’s explicit trust that our partnership with Allianz Partners will deliver during moments that really matter. 

What does Allianz Partners do to provide superior service and enhance the travel experience for Delta customers? 

Trotta: Our commitment is to always prioritize the needs of travelers. We take our partnerships very seriously as an extension of our partner’s brand.  

One thing that sets us apart is our ability to provide end-to-end services and, moreover, ensure the quality and delivery of those services. Whether customers want to make changes to their policy, seek travel assistance or even increase their coverage after an online purchase, they interact directly with Allianz Partners. This integrated approach allows us to swiftly adapt to changes, be it training our staff on new service protocols or introducing new coverages like epidemic-related covered reasons. By managing all aspects internally, we can maintain a consistent and superior level of service, and our global presence gives us access to a wealth of expertise. 

How does Allianz Partners help to extend Delta’s service to customers throughout their trip? 

Trotta: In addition to offering protection for travelers when it is necessary for them to cancel their trip due to a covered reason, we also offer benefits for unexpected events that happen post-departure. This includes situations such as trip interruptions in the event the traveler has to go home early due to a covered reason, delayed flights, protection for lost, stolen or damaged personal belongings, as well as benefits for emergency medical care and transportation. But we also are a call or click away to provide help travelers 24/7, with a broad range of needs, from finding the nearest pre-screened medical provider to helping navigate a lost passport to simple things like restaurant reservations. 

Delta has focused on providing customers with a personalized travel experience throughout their journey. How does your partnership with Allianz Partners give customers the protection they want for all types of trips? 

Stiver: Our strong partnership with Allianz Partners allows us to formulate fast solutions to meet the varying needs of our customers.

For example, we know the needs of a customer traveling internationally differ from those of a customer traveling domestically. With this in mind, Allianz Partners and Delta work together to ensure customers are offered unique products, based on the type of trip they are taking. 

How does Allianz deliver targeted offers to travelers? 

Trotta: It is important to consider the phases of a traveler’s journey, the emotions they are feeling throughout as well as the rational financial decisions along the way. From dreaming, to planning, to booking and travel – each customer weighs the importance of different aspects of their trip throughout. In the case of travel insurance, we work closely with Delta to ensure the aspects of awareness, education and decision-making are spread throughout the journey, while building confidence to book along the way. In taking a holistic view of a customer journey, we also seek to understand the characteristics of each trip, and each traveler, to better understand what concerns they may be having throughout their journey to provide the most relevant solution at the time of booking.

To deliver on this, we utilize our proprietary e-commerce booking platform, known as Allianz Fusion, to create a real-time integration with Delta's booking path. Our platform is a state-of-the-art technology solution that combines the power of human creativity and machine learning to curate the most relevant travel insurance offer personalized to each guest’s reservation, all within a fraction of a second. But all that cutting-edge technology still relies on a very human element: Telling an easy-to-understand story that shows the value of a solution to a problem.