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Improvingtheairportexperience

throughdigitalstrategy

AnessaybyMischaKRIENS

Source:www.caglecartoons.com

“Improvingtheairportexperiencethroughdigitalstrategy”–byMischaKRIENS 2

IntroductionAccording toBenjaminFranklin “nothing in thisworld is certain, except death

and taxes”. But he didn’t live in our century and never got to experience the

inevitableproblemsthatcomewithtryingtoboardaplaneinthe21stCentury.

Noonehaseverstatedthattheyhadanicetimeduringthecheck‐inprocessor

that the immigration procedure was pleasurable, but there are hundreds of

thousands of complaints and stories that come out every day associated with

flying.Airlineslosepeople’sbagsorpassengersmisstheirflightduetodelaysin

immigrationorsecurity.It’ssafetosaythatflyingisoneofthemostexasperating

waysoftravel,farmoresothantakingthetrainorwalking,yetthereissimplyno

fasterwaytocovervastdistances.

Itallstartsonceyou leavetherelativesafetyofyourhousefortheairport: the

first step upon arrival is finding your terminal. There are usually several

differentterminal’sthatarefarapartandit’snotalwaysclearwhereyouhaveto

go in order to check‐in. Once you have finally found the long lines of people

bookedonthesameflightasyoursthewaitingbegins.Yetonceyouhavefinally

gottentothecounterandhaveobtainedthemuch‐valuedboardingpassitisnot

over, no things have only started. Next is the security checkpoint where

everyoneisforcedtopracticallyundressbeforebeingallowedtogothroughthe

metal detector. This is where you see poor old people struggling to get their

shoesbackonwhile trying topreservesomekindofdignityoryoungmothers

gettingyelledatforbringingbabyfoodwiththemintheirbags.

Once you have escaped themenacing glares from the security people you can

breathemorefreely,youareinsidetheairport!Atthistimeyoucanexplorethe

shopsandrestaurantsthatareatyourdispositionatyourownpace.Untilthey

indicatethattheywillbeboardingyourplaneononeofthelargemonitorsand

youhave tomakea run foryourgate,which iswhenyouwill find it ison the

othersideoftheairport.Afterrunningtomakeitthereontimeyouwillusually

find that the airline personnel is running late and that there is a huge line of

passengers waiting to get onto the plane. Once the extremely disorganized

processofboardingeveryoneontheplaneisdonewithandyouareinyourseat

youcanrelax,nothinghorriblewillhappeninthenextcoupleofhours,thatisif

youdon’tcountsomeofthefoodthattheywillserveyouofcourse.

Whentheplanelandsyoucouldbelievethatthetripisalmostover,butusually

this isnot thecase.Firsteveryoneneeds togetoff theplaneand into thenext

airport,wheresignstellyouinwhichdirectiontogo.Everyoneismovingalong

fineandyoufeellikeyou’reintheclearwhenyoustumbleuponimmigrationand

the hundreds of people that are already standing in line. Getting through

immigration takes some impressive queuing skills, as they will only open a

coupleofthecountersinsteadofmanningallofthem.Whileyou’restandingin

line,patientlywaitingforyourturnyousuddenlyrealizewhattimeitisandthat

youmightmiss your connecting flight if theydon’t hurryup, even thoughyou

tookanextrahourtotransfer.Butnooneisallowedtojumpthelineandsoyou

just have to wait it out. For those lucky people that do not have to catch the

connectingflightthereisstillthelittlethrillofgoingtopickupyourbaggageand

prayingthatyoursuitcasehasnotbeenlostbytheairline.


SoIbelieveBenjaminFranklin’squoteshouldbeamendedtosay,“nothinginlife

iscertain,exceptdeath,taxesandairportproblems”.Yetwhyisthisthecasein

today’ssocietywheresomanynewtechnologiesandappsarebeingdeveloped

every single day?Why can’twemodify the systemor at least implement little

thingsthatwillimprovethepassenger’sexperience?Inthefollowingparagraphs

Ihavelookedateverypartoftheairportprocessandhavetriedtounderstand

whatkindofdigitalstrategywouldbeuseful in improvingit.Therearea lotof

smallthingsthatcanbedoneandthatwouldhaveahugeimpactonthebillions

ofpeoplethatflyoutofairportsallaroundtheworldeveryyear.


Thecheck‐inprocessChecking‐intoyourflightattheairportisonlypossibleacoupleofhoursbefore

theflightdeparts,thismeansthatallthepassengersfromoneflightwillstandin

lineat the counterat approximately the same time.Queues start formingonce

the counters open, approximately three or four hours before departure and

remainuntilaboutanhourbeforetheplaneactually leaves.Thismeansthat in

the case of a medium to large aircraft between 300‐500 passengers have to

checkintotheirflightduringa2‐3hourstimeframe.Evenifprocessingisdone

swiftlyanda lotof countersareopen, this is inevitablygoing to cause lines to

form.

The suggested solution that has been

implemented for a couple of years by

most airlines is the option to check‐in

online up until 30 hours before

departure. Passengers can then choose

to print out their boarding passes

themselves,or canopt topick themup

atspecialkiosksattheairport.Baggage

can be simply be dropped of at one of

the counters, but as most people now fly with only a carry‐on this greatly

reduces the lines. One could still streamline the process as online check‐in

requirespassengerstoindicatewhethertheyhaveanysuitcasesthatneedtobe

checked‐in, allowing the airline to estimate the number of counters that they

needtoprovidefortheflight(thiswillprobablyvarywiththedestinationsand

daysoftheflight).

Mobileapplicationshavealsobeenusedbyairlinesand insteadofprintingout

theirboardingpass,peoplecannowreceiveanemailontheirsmartphonethat

will allows themtoboard theplane.Yourphonebasicallybecomesyour ticket

andthismakesthingsalotsimplerforpassengers.

The last problem passengers encounter when checking in is looking for the

terminal they are travelling from. Most major airports have several terminals

anditisn’talwayseasytofigureoutwhereyouneedtogo.Havingliveupdates

onyourmobilethroughandairportspecificorairlinespecificapplicationwould

help people getting it right the first time, making sure they don’t lose time

transferringbetweenterminals.

This application could also provide information such as flight delays or the

estimated time needed to pass through security and get to the gate. People

alwaysmakesuretheyleaveearlyenoughfortheairporttomakesuretheydon’t

misstheirflight,justincasetherearelonglinesorthereistraffic.Havinganapp

telling you that thewait for security is extremely short or extremely long can

helppeopleplantheirtravelbetter,makingsuretheydon’twaitatthegatefor

twohoursormisstheirflights.


PassingthroughsecurityAll theairlinesat theairportnowinadvanceaswellas inreal‐timehowmany

passengersareflyingontheirplanesandatwhattimetheywillbeflying.Oncea

passengerarrivesattheairportandchecksintheyknowthathisnextstepwill

bethesecuritycheckpoint.Bycollectingthedataforalltheairlinesitispossible

for the airport to estimatehowmanypeoplewill be going through security at

any time.Thiswillhave tobeanestimationbasedon thereal‐timedata,yet it

canbecalculatedprettyaccuratelyby lookingatpaststatistics.Knowingthata

big flightwillbe leaving in twohoursmeans that thepassengerswillbegoing

through security and that there needs to be enough staff at the security

checkpoint.Assuchairlinescanestimatewhentheyneedtoincreasepersonnel

andwhen theywill be able to decrease the staff. Thiswould allow for amore

dynamicschedulingofsecuritypersonneldependingontheflowofpeopleatthe

airport,andwouldavoidtheusual linesandbottlenecksthatarecreatedwhen

largegroupsofpeoplearriveallatonce.

Another time‐consuming part of the security process is that people are now

requiredtotakeofftheirshoes,jacket,beltsandothermetalitemsbeforebeing

allowedtogothroughthemetaldetector.Theprocessofremovingtheclothesis

a slow one, and after being allowed through the detector people need to get

dressedagain,creatingbottlenecksforthepeoplewaitingbehindthem.Ibelieve

this process could be streamlined if security would just accept to use more

moderntechnologysuchasfullbodyscanswherepeoplenolongerhavetotake

anything off. The best solution would be to have everyone go through these

machinesand ifpossibleevenwith theircarry‐on,and thenrandomlypickout

passengers based on a computer algorithm and search these people more

thoroughly.

One recently developed

machine called the passive

millimeter wave scanner

uses extremely high

frequency radio waves in

order to perform a full‐

body scan of a passenger.

The method produces an

image that allows the

security personnel to

identifyanyforeignobjects

anditlookslikesomeoneis

virtually naked with all

foreignobject identifiedby

a darker color. The scan

takesapproximately15secondsanddoesn’trequireanyclothingtoberemoved.

There has been some concern around thesemachines as they are believed to

invade people’s privacy, but I believe that offering two different lines at the

airport,onewithtraditionalmethodsandonewiththistechnologywouldsolve

theissue.


WaitingtimeOntheothersideofthesecuritycheckpointthereisawholeworldofshopsand

caféswaitingforpassengers.Itispossibletobydutyfreeitemssuchasalcohol,

perfumesandgadgetsoronecanhaveanicemealatoneoftherestaurants.The

layoutofairportscanbeconfusingthough,anditishardtoknowhowfaraway

fromthegateonereally is,whichoften leadspassengerstogodirectlytotheir

gates causing them tomiss out on that extra half an hour of shopping. A very

useful tool for all passengers would be a special airport app on their mobile

phonesthatgivesthemaccesstoaninteractivemap.

Suchanappwouldbetheperfecttoolfor

theshopsandtherestaurantstopromote

themselves: they can for example give

customers coupons directly on their

phone,orinformthemaboutanyongoing

promotions. The passengers would only

have to scan their phones at the shop in

ordertousethecouponanditwouldalso

no longer be necessary to show your

boarding pass at the counter as the

informationisstoredonthephone.

Geo‐locationwithintheairportcouldbeverypreciseandwouldallowairlinesto

notifypeoplewhentheyneedtostartwalkingtowardstheirgates.Ifsomeone’s

shopping at the other side of the airport he or shewill need to start walking

earlierthensomeonethatisrightnexttothegate.Knowingthattheywillreceive

a notification will allow people to sit down for a coffee somewhere without

gettingupevery5minutestocheckoneoftheboardsoutsidetherestaurant.

Sometimesyougettotheairportatthe

lastminute andhave to hurry to your

gate; this mostly happens on early

morningflightsandmeansthatpeople

usually don’t have time to get their

much‐needed dose of caffeine. Once

they are through security passengers

rush to theirgateand thensometimes

havetowaitthereforanadditional10

minutes before being allowed aboard

theplane,timetheycouldhaveusedto

grab coffee, where it not that there usually aren’t any coffee stands near the

actual gates. The interactivemapwouldbe able to take into account that they

want to get coffee and can then show themwhich route they need to take in

ordertomakeittotheirgateontime.Iftheappisawareoftheactuallinesatthe

differentcafés itcanevencalculatehowlong itwill take forthepassengerand

can re‐program the directions if necessary or it can let them know that they

reallywon’thavetimeforcoffee.


Boarding

Theboardingprocessneverstartsat the time it issupposed to,buthaving the

appnotifyyouwhenyouneedtogotoyourgateallowsyoutodomoreuseful

thingsthenjustwaitingaroundtheseatingarea.Thisalsoavoidsthehugelines

thatareusually formedaround20minutesbefore theboarding issupposed to

start and that make the process very chaotic. On most commercial airlines

people actually have assigned seats and there is no reason youhave to be the

first passenger on the plane. Airlines ask people to board the plane bywaves,

startingwiththepremiumflyers(businessclassandfrequentflyercardholders)

andthenproceedtotherestofthe

passengers.Ithasbeenshownthat

boardingthelastrowsoftheplane

firstismoreefficientthenstarting

with the front, as this creates less

blockage in the aisles. As people

nowhavetheirboardingpasseson

their phones you can notify those

that are allowed to board at first

beforeyounotifythenextwave,as

such you create less of chaos and

the process will be much

smoother.

Whenyouonlyknowthattheyareboardingtheplaneyoudon’tactuallynowif

youneedtorushtothegateorifyoustillhave10minutesbeforeitisyourturn.

Anappcouldinformpassengersofwhichseatstheairlineisallowingtoboardin

real‐timeandcouldalsogiveyouinformationonhowlongthelineis.Ifthereare

still 42peoplewaiting toboard theplane itdoesn’tmake sense to run for the

gate,butifthereisnooneleft,youhadbettermakesureyougetmoving!

Anappcanalsoshowamapoftheseatsthatareontheplane,allowingpeopleto

checkwheretheyareseatedandwheretheywillneedtogo.Theycanalsocheck

where their friends are sitting and even switch seats with people if they so

desire. One could even imagine creating a sort of social network where

passengerscanposttheirmoodorideasinformsofstatusupdatesandthatwill

belinkedtotheirseat.Thiswayapassengercansharetheirseatiftheysodesire

andstart talking to thepersonsittingnext to themevenbefore theyboardthe

plane.Oriftheymeetsomeonewhilewaitingintheseatingareatheycanmakea

request to sit together. If airlines have information on thepassengers, such as

mood,hobbyandwhattheyplantodoontheplanethentheycanevensuggest

changingseatsbasedonamatchmakingalgorithm.Passengerswouldhavetoopt

intothisofcourse,andeveryoneshouldbeabletoindicatetheydon’twanttobe

bothered.Butsomeonewhowantstosleepduringtheflightwouldprobablybe

much happier to be seated next to someone doing crossword puzzles then

someonewho’sverytalkativeorakidplayingwargamesontheirGameboy.


UponlandingOncetheplanehasfinishedtaxiingandisatthegateeveryonedisembarksand

starts making their way to the exits and the baggage pick‐up point. In some

airportsthewayisclearlyindicatedbysignswhereasotherairportsmakeitvery

easy for people to get lost. For example at Amsterdam’s international airport,

Schiphol,passengersarriveatthemaindeparturegatesandfindthemselvesina

hugecrowdofpeopleandthesignspointingtowardtheexitsarequitehardto

spot.Itwouldbemucheasierifpassengershadaccesstoaninteractivemapof

thearrivalairport,allowingthemtofindtheirwayifevertheywanttostopand

buysomethingbeforegoingoutside.

Itwouldalsobefuntoreceiveliveupdatesonthestatusofyourbags.Thiswould

be possible by using the tags that are fixed to every piece of luggage as they

includeabarcodethatcanbedirectlyassociatedtosomeone’sboardingpass.Or

passengers could use their phone and scan the receipt that they receivewhen

they check‐in a bag. This way everyone can see where their luggage is at:

whetheritisstillontheplane,ononeoftheairportcartsorifitisalreadyonthe

conveyorbelt.Airports couldevenattachpicturesofdifferentplacesalong the

route that are shown once the bag gets there. This would also re‐assure

passengersthattheirbagissafelyontheplanewiththemandhasnotbeenlost

somewherealongtheway.

A lotofpeoplehaveconnecting flights that theyneedtocatchoncetheyget to

theairportanditcanbeveryusefultohaveaccesstothelistofconnectingflights

andthegatesthattheyareflyingoutof.Havingtheinteractivemapthenallows

passengers to estimate howmuch time they have to get to the next gate and

whethertheycanstillstopforthatcupofcoffeeontheirwaythere.


ImmigrationUnfortunately it isnotalwayspossible to rushof theplane,grabyourbagand

jump into a cab. When you travel outside of your country there is passport

controlandcustomsthatyouwillneedtogothrough.Rightnowyouwillneedto

showyouractualpassportbutonecanimaginethatinthefuturetherewillbean

appthatallowsyoutohandthemyourphonewithaspecialpassportapplinked

to your fingerprints (you would for example have to press your finger to the

screeninordertounlockit).Justbyscanningthephoneorbyinteractingwithit

in some otherway, officials could check your identity and verify that you are

whoyousayyouare.Havingaglobaldatabaseoftheworld’scitizenswouldbe

veryhelpfulforthis.

When you arrive in the US you

are also required to fill out a

paper custom form, this usually

veryannoyingforyouhavetogo

looking for certain information

such as you passport number,

yourflightnumberaswellasthe

address of where you will be

staying in the US. Being able to

fill out this form on your phone

directlywouldmakethisprocess

mucheasierforpassengersasall

the information isalreadystored there. Itwouldalsomake the informationon

theformsmorereadableforthecustomofficers,aswellassavingalottreesand

storagespace.

Onceyouarriveattheimmigrationpoint itwouldbeeasytogivepassengersa

number in the queue by having them tap their phone against a reader. There

couldthenbeseatswherepeoplecanwaitinsteadofhavingthemstandinline

forhours.Youwouldsimplywaituntilyournumberisbeingcalledandthengo

uptothecounter.Thismightmaketheprocessa littlesloweraspeoplewould

takelongertogettothecounter,yetthiscanberemediedbymakingsurethere

arealwaysenoughboothsopenfortheamountofwaitingpassengers.There is

noneedtooverstaffallthetime,butairportsknowhowmanypassengersarethe

arriving flights and they also have access to the proportion of foreigners to

expect real‐time. This definitely allows them to plan ahead, and schedule staff

accordingly:themorepassengersarriving,themorestaffisrequired.

Sometimespassengershaveanextremelyshortlayoverandneedtocatchtheir

connecting flight.Currentlyyouarenotallowed to jumpahead in lineand this

causesa lotofpeople tomiss their flights.Havingyourboardingpassonyour

phonewouldallowimmigrationtobeawareofyoursituationandtheycanthen

createaspeciallineforthosepassengersorcangivethemafasternumber.


ConclusionThere are a lot of things that can be done in order tomake the experience of

travelling by airplane a lot more pleasurable and efficient. I believe that this

essayhasexploredthedifferentoptionsadigitalstrategycanprovideandwould

encourageairportstostartthinkingaboutwhattheycandoinordertoimprove.

SomeofthethingsthatIhavesuggestedareeasytoimplement,suchascreating

anappwith an interactivemap, andwould still have tremendous influenceon

the way passengers interact with the airport. It should also be fairly easy to

obtaindatafromtheairlinesinordertostreamlineboththesecurityprocessas

wellasimmigration.IhavetoadmitIdon’tunderstandwhyithastotakesolong

to open more counters when the airport has been aware of the number of

passengers arriving for a couple of hours. Other suggestions such a digital

passport will most probably take a lotmore time to implement due to safety

considerations but also the fact that it would require several entities towork

together.

Benjamin Franklin was right after all, airport problems can be avoided, and

airportswillonlyneedtodevelopadigitalstrategyinordertodoso.

Sources:• Allcartoonscomefromthefollowingwebsite:www.caglecartoons.com

• InformationonthebodyscannerswasfoundonWikipedia

• Therestof thetextwascreatedentirely frommyownexperienceswith

airport and flights around theworld and the fair amount of frustration

thathasbeenbuildingupovertheyears.

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