The Airline Passengers Bill of Rights gave air travelers compensation when bumped, a refund of fees for lost baggage, a ban on hidden fees and more. Now, airline passengers want more control via self-service and mobile-based offerings to reduce stress during travel according a survey released this week.
“What passengers really want is to avoid delays and to be kept informed of what is happening,” said Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA in a Travel Daily News report. “Nearly everyone surveyed said they would welcome any queue-busting services and 89% voted self-boarding as their top technology.”
Among findings in the survey;
- 79% of passengers use online check-in regularly or occasionally
- 68% prefer automated bag drop as opposed to checking it with an agent
- 62% of passengers use social media, a higher rate than the general population
- It’s not that today’s air traveler is anti-social; 80% of younger travelers (18-24) are active on social media, compared to 39% of the over-55s but neither group really wants to buy travel via their smartphone
- The number of passengers with smartphones rose over the past year from 54% to 70%, fueling the desire for more self-service options
The Air Transport World (ATW) seventh annual survey was conducted with 2,526 passengers from more than 70 countries, a representative sampling of the 280 million passengers who pass through six of the world’s leading airports each year at Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Beijing, Frankfurt, Mumbai and São Paulo.
[Flickr photo by ericksonkee]