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The airlines have done a good job of leveraging their mobile apps and social media to aid travelers with information as they arrive for their flights.
Now those same travelers want more information, but this time from the airport itself.
According to a FlightView survey of 2,104 travelers, 93 percent of travelers said they want airports to automatically push alerts to them regarding important day-of-travel information during their trips. Specifically, of the travelers FlightView surveyed:
• 84 percent expect airports to keep them updated on their flight's status;
• 79 percent want updates on security wait times;
• 48 percent would value updates on traffic delays;
• And 38 percent want to be kept updated on the weather at their destination city.
"The task of proactively keeping travelers updated with vital day-of-travel information has largely fallen on airlines and third-party providers," Mike Benjamin, CEO of FlightView, the day-of-travel information company, said in a statement. "The fact that travelers now want to get information directly from airports represents a substantial shift, and airports need to ensure they are positioned to respond."
According to SITA, the air transport communications and information technology company, the sea change is coming. SITA predicts that by 2017, 90 percent of all airports will be able to provide flight status notifications through mobile and 65 percent will be able to provide real-time mobile information updates during travel disruptions.
Surprisingly, FlightView found that there's a growing interest among travelers to allow airports to anonymously track their mobile devices in order to collect and provide their visitors with actionable information - such as real-time updates on security lines, wait times at Customs and ticket counters, walking times between gates and more. More than 50 percent of travelers (53 percent) indicated they would allow airports to track their devices.
"While some consumers are still skeptical about mobile device tracking in general, there's potential for it to become a win-win for both travelers and the airport," said Benjamin. "By understanding where travelers are in real-time, not only can airports provide updates on passenger flow and bottlenecks in the terminals, but they can more effectively move around their operations staff to better serve customers and provide more personalized offerings."
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