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AGENTS, BEWARE: New app lets you book a holiday by using just an Instagram picture

We all know Instagram's #wanderlust feed is what travel dreams are made of, so is it any surprise that European airline easyJet has unveiled a new app feature allowing customers to instantly book flights using just a photo?

We all know Instagram’s #wanderlust feed is what travel dreams are made of, so is it any surprise that European airline easyJet has unveiled a new app feature allowing customers to instantly book flights using just a photo?

The new feature allows users to upload Instagram screenshots of travel inspo photos to the easyJet app.

Users can then book a holiday then and there, without even needing to know the destination. Hmm ok.

Instagram icon woman mobile Pixabay KarryOn e1539823603573

So how does it work? Well, the Look&Book uses advanced image recognition techniques to identify the location to match the photo to easyJet’s 1000 destinations throughout Europe.

As well as recognising the destination, the app also suggests the nearest airport and pre-populates the booking form with those details.

That’s a fast way to secure a booking…but it seems maybe a bit too fast if the customers know nothing about the country they are about to book a ticket to. And Instagram pictures can be misleading at the best of times.

Head of Digital Experience at easyJet Daniel Young things the feature is a winner though.

“Look&Book will help people to further explore Europe with ease and open up new destinations and previously hidden holiday locations for a range of customers,” he said.

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It will certainly be interesting to see how the feature performs. We’re not too concerned that something like this will impinge too much on Agents and their wealth of knowledge about travel. What do you think?

Share your thoughts with us on this new booking tool.