Episode 025: Passenger Personalization and Data Rationalization

#PaxEx Podcast

During a summit this week in Brussels, SITA released its annual Airline IT Trends Survey, and with it some compelling details about how airlines are investing in passenger personalization now that some 83% of passengers travel with a smartphone and 15% travel with at least three personal electronic devices. Co-hosts Max Flight and Mary Kirby talk to guest Nigel Pickford about how airlines are “tailoring the trip” for passengers, including in the way they sell ancillary products such as seat upgrades or travel services. Wearables will be a key focus going forward. "It's at very early stages," notes Pickford, "albeit though with the Apple Watch being launched, this will actually drive, I expect, significant development activity on the watch (Geneva Airport, for instance, already has an app being showcased by Apple on its website)."

But should we be concerned about privacy as personalization takes hold? "My take on this is personalization should be a personal choice so if somebody wants the airline to provide them with information or services at certain points in the journey, then they have to give consent to share any details about themselves for airlines to do that," says Pickford.

Next, we know that airlines are investing in different ways to ease anxiety at various touchpoints in the passenger experience. SITA conducted an assessment on emotions as part of a recent passenger trends survey, and discovered that passengers are "more happy with their dwell time at the airport - that time after they've passed through passport control and security while waiting for the flight. We talk to Pickford about when and where anxiety is the most acute for passengers, and whether the rise in self-service activities at the airport (check-in, bag drop) is a win-win situation for industry and passengers in this regard.

Last but not least, the air transport industry has shown a real interest in the Internet of Things (IoT), and some 37% of airlines have already allocated budget towards leveraging this phenomena. Doing so is fraught was challenges, however, as there are myriad disparate systems, and a reluctance to share meaningful data, even among some alliance partners. We talk to Pickford about how airlines and airports struggle to manage the data they already have, and consider the complexities of marching into this brave, new IoT world.