Extending self-service

A world in which a passenger has more choice and can control more aspects of air travel is IATA’s vision for its Fast Travel programme. The sight of a passenger entering information into a kiosk is no longer exclusive to airports in Europe or North America. Airports and airlines all over the world are now offering self check-in kiosks and the number keeps growing. In the last three years, the number of airports offering self check-in has grown from 10 to 85. Additionally, the concept of allowing passengers to manage the travel process has evolved considerably in the last two decades to include online booking, selecting seats, modifying reservations and checking in.

Passengers have more options than ever before. They can book online and check-in through the internet, using a kiosk or a mobile device. While the solutions available may have subtle differences from airline to airline the premise remains the same: save time and improve customer service whilst reducing costs.

During the early days of self-service, airlines installed their own dedicated kiosks due to a lack of any common standards. The use of these kiosks enabled airlines to deploy its personnel and use airport space more effectively. The benefits meant not only important savings to an industry plagued with constant rising costs, but also a way to offer passengers better customer service.

Passenger demand

Since those early days, passengers’ interest in self-service offerings has grown in leaps and bounds, sparked by the increased use of technology and increased familiarity with the travel process.

IATA’s 2008 Corporate Air Travel Survey of over 10,000 active travellers, shows that not only are passengers accepting high-tech travel options, but they are also demanding even more opportunities to take control of their travel experience.

Detailed results showed that 89% of travellers preferred e-tickets to paper tickets; 56% had used internet check-in and 69% had taken advantage of self-service kiosks.

Additionally, 54% responded positively to the possibility of more self-service options with positive results from all regions: 64% in Africa and the Middle East; 57% in the Americas; 53% in Europe and 51% in Asia Pacific. Undoubtedly self-service has now become part of the passenger’s expectations of full-service.

Building on this success and high passenger acceptance, many airlines and airports are experimenting with new offerings, allowing the passenger to handle their transfer flights (e.g. Schipol Airport) and check-in their bags off site (e.g. Las Vegas McCarran) among other features. This growth calls for a more holistic approach to self-service so that it is applied beyond check-in and boarding to all other aspects of the passenger process.

The demand is clearly there. For example, in IATA’s customer survey, respondents not only mentioned online booking, reservations changes, as some of the features of interest but also re-routing of missed or cancelled flights, remote baggage drop off service and post arrival assistance.

Amplifying self-service: a common approach

IATA’s Simplifying the Business Programme started in 2004 and is the platform for advances in passenger convenience. The programme sets global standards in technology and processes to streamline and improve the travel experience. That includes driving 100% electronic ticketing by 31 May 2008, promoting the use of common use self-service kiosks (which allow passengers to check in on a number of airlines using the same kiosk) driving industry adoption of bar coded boarding passes that enable web check in and promoting Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for aviation.

More recently, airline CEOs asked IATA to build a strategy to leverage self-service for the industry. IATA’s response is Fast Travel.

The vision is to offer the passenger greater choice from a wider range of self-service options from reservations through to arrival. IATA’s goal is to facilitate an industry approach to self-service by establishing common processes and standards to make Fast Travel a reality. This allows carriers to choose the range of options to manage the passenger at the airport resulting in faster and speedier processing. Choosing from the range of options available will allow carriers to tailor their service to their own market needs. Ultimately, passenger choice will drive a degree of harmonisation across the industry.

IATA envisions self-service empowering the following areas:

• Check-in
• Baggage processing by the passenger
• Documentation checks
• Irregular operations recovery
• Boarding and post-flight

IATA will facilitate a common process, recommended practice and supporting standards for airlines to purchase and implement in a cost effective manner. This would also allow smaller carriers to offer self-service solutions to their passengers.

A common approach relies on airlines and airports working towards common objectives of enhanced customer service and improving the bottom line. However, the challenge is ensuring all parties see a direct benefit to their business. As airlines move more of the operational focus to ground handling agents and airports it becomes evident that those providers need to deliver an efficient and simple to use process for the passenger.

In the case where airports are facing capacity constraints due to strong growth in the industry, it becomes a daily challenge to manage increased throughput without the luxury of extending traditional facilities. Therefore, an ability to offer a higher level of service at a lower cost through a range of self-service options becomes attractive for all involved. Given the cost differential between traditional infrastructure (i.e. new terminals or terminal extensions) the appeal of funding self-service facilities from a capital expenditure perspective is highly evident. For example, Las Vegas McCarran International Airport has taken this philosophy to an extent where all common use facilities are free of charge to all carriers operating there. The commercial benefits to the airport have been in facilitating the strong growth.

In December 2007, the IATA Board of Governors asked IATA to run two pilots for each of the areas mentioned above which would allow IATA to identify opportunities, benefits and risks in order to lead the industry in this new self-service era.

“A new era of self-service has begun, in which airlines and airports work together to offer better service to their clients. It’s a win/win situation for all involved”, said Philippe Bruyère, Simplifying the Business Programme Director. “Consumers are demanding more choice and control and as an industry we must go beyond their expectations to make travelling more convenient whilst reducing complexity and cost.”

About the author

Philippe Bruyère has 14 years experience in the travel industry and banking fields. Prior to joining IATA, he held several senior level positions with Club Mediterranée, Carlson Wagon Lit Travel and Credit Suisse Private Banking, working in Paris, Casablanca, Frankfurt and then Geneva. Philippe joined IATA in September 2003 as Director, Industry Financial Services and remained in this post for 18 months prior to becoming Programme Director, Simplifying the Business.