Blink and Manulife team up
Ireland-based travel insurtech Blink and Canadian multinational insurance company Manulife have announced a new partnership, through which they aim to provide customers with digital travel disruption solutions
“We have been working with Manulife to develop a very exciting suite of products that, once launched, will transform the customer travel insurance experience,” enthused Paul Prendergast, Blink’s CEO. “The Manulife ethos is very much inkeeping with our own focus on finding and developing innovative digital solutions with the primary goal of making customers’ travel insurance experience as efficient as possible.”
Blink’s focus is specifically on real-time flight disruption solutions. Launched in 2016 and quickly acquired by CPPGroup Plc the following year, it has not been shy about forging partnerships with large insurers and other entities throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Manulife, which provides travel insurance through a variety of distribution channels in Canada, is ideally placed to support the roll-out of a new tailor-made solution.
Said solution is paperless and aimed at both leisure and business travellers whose flights may be delayed. It includes various benefits, including complimentary access to an airport lounge, hotel rebooking options and instant payment should the flight be delayed for three hours or more.
Rob Iafrate, Assistant Vice-President at Manulife Travel Insurance, praised Blink’s ‘innovative’ technology, which he said is ‘unlike anything we have seen on the market to date’: “This partnership with Blink aligns perfectly [with Manulife’s plans]. We are looking forward to creating this new, convenient experience for our customers to further support them during those stressful times of flight disruption.”
This story is being written first thing on a Monday morning, and already, according to the website Flight Stats, there have been 1,380 flight cancellations and 5,802 flight delays globally. Any solution that helps passengers to deal with these frustrations will no doubt be welcomed with open arms.