Technology makes travellers happy

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Happy passengers are the ultimate goal of airlines and airports and new research from global IT provider SITA assures technology can play a role.

SITA investigated the connection between a passenger's use of technology and their emotions.

The survey was conducted in the first months of 2015 across 17 countries, representing 76pc of the world’s passenger traffic and forms a guide on overall levels of passenger satisfaction. It indicates that for the vast majority of passengers most steps of the journey were a positive experience and passengers were happiest using self-service.

The survey shows that this year the proportion of passengers carrying smartphones has nudged up to 83pc from 81pc last year, while 15pc travel with three mobile devices (mobile phone, tablet and laptop). And these ‘connected travelers’ are happiest when using their own devices throughout their journey.

When booking their flight the technology that makes passengers the most happy and excited is an app on their smartphone - 94pc experienced these positive emotions using the app compared to 90pc booking at a travel agent or an airline office.

Looking at check-in it is clear that technology is also making the experience more enjoyable. Overall, check-in is rated positively by the vast majority of passenger (86%) but more passengers had a positive experience when they used self-service check-in. In fact, 97% of passengers who used web check-in experienced excitement and happiness compared to 83% using the airport desk.

The least popular stages of the journey were at security, and to a lesser extent bag collection. The majority however, still felt positive at these stages; 64pc at security when the negative emotions were mainly driven by anxiety, and 69pc at baggage collection.