Air passengers are looking to technology to improve their travel experience by giving them more control and reducing their wait times, according to the results of a global survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The IATA’s 2019 Global Passenger Survey identified the five top passenger priorities as follows: more personal control over their journey via their smart phone; use of biometric identification to speed up travel processes; ability to track their baggage; maximum wait times of 10 minutes for baggage collection and immigration/customs; and access to Wi-Fi on board at 34,000 feet.
Passengers want to use their personal device to control more aspects of their travel journey from booking to arrival, said the report.
An airline app was the preferred method of booking for passengers from North Asia (24% of travelers) and the second most popular choice among passengers in the Middle East (14%). Booking through an airline website remains the method of choice for most travelers globally (39%).
Using a smartphone was also identified by more than half of passengers (51%) as their preferred method of check-in, a 4% increase over 2018.
Most passengers (72%) also wanted to be kept informed throughout their journey via travel notifications sent to their personal device. While SMS remains the preferred notification option for 39% of passengers, preference for receiving information via a smartphone app has been increasing and is now the method of choice for one-third of passengers.
The survey found that 83% of passengers want to receive information on the status of their flight and 45% would like information on their baggage. Passengers are also asking for information to help them plan their passage through the airport, with 45% wanting to know wait times at security and border control and 37% wanting to know wait times at customs.
The survey found that 70% of passengers are willing to share additional personal information including their biometric identifiers to speed up processes at the airport.
In addition, 46% of passengers would prefer to use biometric identification instead of a paper passport for their journey and 30% would opt to use a biometric token to board the plane.
“Passengers are willing to share more personal information if it removes hassle from their travel experience. But it’s clear that concerns over data privacy remain,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
Over half of passengers (53%) said they would be more likely to check their bag if they were able to track it throughout the journey. And 46% said that they want to be able to track their bag and have it delivered directly to an off-airport location, if that service were available.
The survey indicated that 80% of passengers want to wait no longer than three minutes to drop off a bag. This increased to 10 minutes for queuing at immigration/customs for 79% of travelers. And only 2% would accept a waiting time longer than 20 minutes.
Passengers (74%) also want to wait no longer than 10 minutes for baggage delivery. And almost none wants to wait longer than 20 minutes. The survey also found that for nearly three quarters (74%) of passengers, speed was the main benefit of using automated immigration gates/kiosks. A similar number (72%) gave the overall experience of automated immigration processing a thumbs-up.
Passengers want onboard Wi-Fi. Some 53% of surveyed passengers found Wi-Fi important to have.
“With availability of Wi-Fi connectivity continuing to have a direct impact on the overall travel experience, adopting the latest onboard Wi-Fi technology continues to be an effective way for airlines to distinguish their product offering,” said the report.
On pain points, passengers once again identified airport security screening process and border control as two of their biggest pain points when travelling. Having to remove personal items was identified as a pain point by the most travelers (60%), closely followed by the removal of laptops and large electronic devices (48%) and variations in screening processes at different airports (41%).
The 2019 survey results were based on 10,877 responses from passengers across 166 countries, said IATA.
