10 Ideas for a better Airline Customer Experience
- Bag management technology - bags tagged with RFID chips which are scanned as bags are loaded onto and taken off the aircraft. It would be awesome to receive a message as you board saying "Don't worry, your bag is now on-board the plane", and then another when you get off letting you know when your bag is on its way to you to be collected
- Other types of entertainment options - sometimes I have been on a flight and unexpectedly finished the book I'm reading (maybe due to an unexpected delay). It would be great to have the option of borrowing another book while on board, perhaps electronically.
- More relevant in-flight shopping - I have always found in-flight shopping options to be totally uninteresting. Perhaps I could order my duty free (or other items) on the plane and then have it waiting for me when I get off at the other end. This way I wouldn't have to worry about carrying it until I get to my destination.
- Boarding process - this is the big one to solve. Maybe dedicated queuing lanes per boarding group would work, or maybe randomized boarding with 4 seats at a time being displayed on a board calling up the next 4 people and eliminating the queues. Probably the most important challenge to solve in my opinion. (http://www.wired.com/2014/11/whats-boarding-airplanes-takes-forever/)
- Personalized offers / pricing - I typically always fly at the same times of year on the exact same route. However I can't ever remember having received some type of personalized email telling me about the best prices for flights around those times of year.
- Pick meal at check-in time - when I check in online, I would love to see what the two food options will be, and maybe make my selection at that time. Maybe I could also pay more at this time to get a more premium selection? Or pay at check-in to get a better wine selection?
- Immigration guides - Immigration is always a pain. All you want to do is get through as soon as possible. Once I book a flight it would be great to receive an email with a guide to the destination airport and immigration process: average wait times, what forms I will need to have filled out, guide on how to fill them out, how long the walk is to immigration etc.
- Live updated immigration wait times - provide live information on immigration average wait times as the plane lands, just like a weather report
- Overhead locker space - another part of the process that stresses me out. It always feels so unfair when I see a family with 4 enormous suitcase-sized bags as their 'carry-on' luggage. Another hard one to fix. Maybe people who travel with smaller carry on luggage could get some sort of discount or incentive. Or reduce handheld luggage allowance but increase checked luggage allowance.
- In-flight mood lighting - on over-night flights when it is near landing time and lights are switched back on to full strength, I already feel pretty bad on waking up due to jet-lag, and the bright lights don't help. Some sort of more gentle wake-up maybe with blue tinted LED lighting would be much more pleasant. I have heard that Qatar airlines already does something like this.