For an airline, the customer experience doesn’t begin when passengers board the plane or end when they land. It includes searching for flights, purchasing tickets, checking in, traveling, enjoying the experience on board, and sharing feedback afterward. Virgin Atlantic is using ChatGPT Work to connect all that information and turn it into faster decisions.
From weeks of research to hours of analysis
When Virgin Atlantic was designing its new five-year digital strategy, its product team needed to understand how the airline compared with its competitors at every stage of the customer journey.
That work could require weeks of manual research. The team had to review different experiences, organize its findings, and identify useful patterns to decide where to invest.
With ChatGPT Work, it created a structured framework for analyzing several competitors, exploring their digital experiences, and organizing the results into a reviewable dataset. The team could start the process in the morning and return a few hours later to evaluate and refine the findings.
AI did not replace the strategic decision. It helped the team reach the information needed to make it more quickly.
The analysis made it possible to identify which aspects of the digital experience were working well, which capabilities were important to protect, and which needed new investment. Those results helped shape the recommendations for the company’s five-year plan.
A shared view of scattered data
Information about the customer journey is often spread across different systems, dashboards, and analytics tools. In the past, Virgin Atlantic employees had to access multiple authenticated spaces, profiles, licenses, and report sets to understand each part of the experience.
With ChatGPT Work and ChatGPT Sites, the company is creating secure, authenticated dashboards that bring together data from different sources in a common interface. This makes it easier for teams to explore relevant information and make decisions related to their own areas.
The idea is simple, but important: instead of forcing each person to learn where every piece of data is stored, the information is presented in a more accessible and adaptable way.
Custom-built planning tools
Virgin Atlantic also uses ChatGPT to create customized product-planning tools. Its teams can manage roadmaps, priorities, fields, and quarterly plans according to their own needs.
At the same time, leaders can view simpler, more general versions to understand project progress. This flexibility reduces the time teams spend adapting to rigid tools and allows them to focus on delivering improvements.
ChatGPT as a daily work assistant
The use of AI isn’t limited to customer analysis or digital strategy. Nathan Bolt, Virgin Atlantic’s Head of Digital Product, also uses it as a kind of executive assistant to review important items from his calendar, Slack, and email.
ChatGPT helps him identify outstanding tasks, prepare presentations, and decide which actions require attention. The goal isn’t to work longer hours, but to make better use of the same hours available.
This case shows a practical application of AI in a large company: connecting information that already exists, reducing manual tasks, and making it easier for teams to move from an idea to a decision.
What this case reveals about enterprise AI
Virgin Atlantic’s experience reflects a shift that can be seen in many organizations. The value of AI isn’t always in creating something completely new. Sometimes it lies in bringing scattered data together, summarizing documents, comparing alternatives, and showing what deserves attention.
For this to work, companies need to define what information can be used, who has access, and how results are reviewed. Speed is useful, but it must be accompanied by control and human judgment.
In Virgin Atlantic’s case, ChatGPT Work is becoming a layer of work that connects research, analysis, planning, and execution. When those elements are no longer isolated, decisions can reach the products and services customers use more quickly.