Passengers are looking to technology to improve their travel experience according to Iata 2019 Global Passenger Survey.
The survey focused on processes and technology in the travel experience and the top passenger priorities identified include:
- Having more personal control over their journey via their smartphones
- Being able to use biometric identification to speed up travel processes
- Being able to track their baggage
- Having maximum wait times of ten minutes for baggage collection and immigration/ customs
- Access to WiFi onboard
More control
Passengers want to use their device to control more aspects of their travel journey from booking to arrival.
Booking through an airline website remains the method of choice for travellers globally, with 39% of passengers choosing this method.
Using a smartphone was identified by 51% of passengers as their preferred method of check-in, a 4% increase from the 2018 survey.
Some 72% of passengers wanted to be kept informed throughout their journey via travel notifications sent to their device, with the method of choice being via a smartphone app.
The survey showed that 45% of passengers want information on their baggage, and 37% want to know the wait times at customs.
Biometric technology to speed up airport processes
70% of passengers were willing to share additional personal information including their biometric identifiers to speed up processes at the airport.
In addition, 46% would prefer to use biometric information instead of a paper passport and 30% would use a biometric ‘token’ to board a flight.
High demand for baggage tracking
Of respondents, 53% said they would be more likely to check their bag if they were able to track it throughout the journey, and 46% said they wanted to be able to track their bag and have it delivered directly to an off-airport location if that service was available.
Time is of the essence for passengers
The survey indicated that 80% of passengers wanted to wait no longer than three minutes to drop off a bag. This increased to ten minutes for queuing at immigration/customs for 79% of travellers. Only 2% would accept a waiting time of longer than 20 minutes.
Passenger pain points
Having to remove personal items was identified as a pain point by most travellers (60%), followed by the removal of laptops and large electronic devices (48%) and variations in screening processes at different airports (41%).