An essay on what digital strategy airports should adopt in order to improve the experience of flying

1.
Improving the airport experience
through digital strategy
An essay by Mischa KRIENS
Source: www.caglecartoons.com

2. Introduction
According to Benjamin Franklin “nothing in this world is certain, except death
and taxes”. But he didn’t live in our century and never got to experience the
inevitable problems that come with trying to board a plane in the 21st Century.
No one has ever stated that they had a nice time during the check‐in process or
that the immigration procedure was pleasurable, but there are hundreds of
thousands of complaints and stories that come out every day associated with
flying. Airlines lose people’s bags or passengers miss their flight due to delays in
immigration or security. It’s safe to say that flying is one of the most exasperating
ways of travel, far more so than taking the train or walking, yet there is simply no
faster way to cover vast distances.
It all starts once you leave the relative safety of your house for the airport: the
first step upon arrival is finding your terminal. There are usually several
different terminal’s that are far apart and it’s not always clear where you have to
go in order to check‐in. Once you have finally found the long lines of people
booked on the same flight as yours the waiting begins. Yet once you have finally
gotten to the counter and have obtained the much‐valued boarding pass it is not
over, no things have only started. Next is the security checkpoint where
everyone is forced to practically undress before being allowed to go through the
metal detector. This is where you see poor old people struggling to get their
shoes back on while trying to preserve some kind of dignity or young mothers
getting yelled at for bringing baby food with them in their bags.
Once you have escaped the menacing glares from the security people you can
breathe more freely, you are inside the airport! At this time you can explore the
shops and restaurants that are at your disposition at your own pace. Until they
indicate that they will be boarding your plane on one of the large monitors and
you have to make a run for your gate, which is when you will find it is on the
other side of the airport. After running to make it there on time you will usually
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
process of boarding everyone on the plane is done with and you are in your seat
you can relax, nothing horrible will happen in the next couple of hours, that is if
you don’t count some of the food that they will serve you of course.
When the plane lands you could believe that the trip is almost over, but usually
this is not the case. First everyone needs to get off the plane and into the next
airport, where signs tell you in which direction to go. Everyone is moving along
fine and you feel like you’re in the clear when you stumble upon immigration and
the hundreds of people that are already standing in line. Getting through
immigration takes some impressive queuing skills, as they will only open a
couple of the counters instead of manning all of them. While you’re standing in
line, patiently waiting for your turn you suddenly realize what time it is and that
you might miss your connecting flight if they don’t hurry up, even though you
took an extra hour to transfer. But no one is allowed to jump the line and so you
just have to wait it out. For those lucky people that do not have to catch the
connecting flight there is still the little thrill of going to pick up your baggage and
praying that your suitcase has not been lost by the airline.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 2

3. So I believe Benjamin Franklin’s quote should be amended to say, “nothing in life
is certain, except death, taxes and airport problems”. Yet why is this the case in
today’s society where so many new technologies and apps are being developed
every single day? Why can’t we modify the system or at least implement little
things that will improve the passenger’s experience? In the following paragraphs
I have looked at every part of the airport process and have tried to understand
what kind of digital strategy would be useful in improving it. There are a lot of
small things that can be done and that would have a huge impact on the billions
of people that fly out of airports all around the world every year.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 3

4. The check‐in process
Checking‐in to your flight at the airport is only possible a couple of hours before
the flight departs, this means that all the passengers from one flight will stand in
line at the counter at approximately the same time. Queues start forming once
the counters open, approximately three or four hours before departure and
remain until about an hour before the plane actually leaves. This means that in
the case of a medium to large aircraft between 300‐500 passengers have to
check in to their flight during a 2‐3 hours time frame. Even if processing is done
swiftly and a lot of counters are open, this is inevitably going 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 can opt to pick them up
at special kiosks at the airport. 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
requires passengers to indicate whether they have any suitcases that need to be
checked‐in, allowing the airline to estimate the number of counters that they
need to provide for the flight (this will probably vary with the destinations and
days of the flight).
Mobile applications have also been used by airlines and instead of printing out
their boarding pass, people can now receive an email on their smartphone that
will allows them to board the plane. Your phone basically becomes your ticket
and this makes things a lot simpler for passengers.
The last problem passengers encounter when checking in is looking for the
terminal they are travelling from. Most major airports have several terminals
and it isn’t always easy to figure out where you need to go. Having live updates
on your mobile through and airport specific or airline specific application would
help people getting it right the first time, making sure they don’t lose time
transferring between terminals.
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
always make sure they leave early enough for the airport to make sure they don’t
miss their flight, just in case there are long lines or there is traffic. Having an app
telling you that the wait for security is extremely short or extremely long can
help people plan their travel better, making sure they don’t wait at the gate for
two hours or miss their flights.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 4

5. Passing through security
All the airlines at the airport now in advance as well as in real‐time how many
passengers are flying on their planes and at what time they will be flying. Once a
passenger arrives at the airport and checks in they know that his next step will
be the security checkpoint. By collecting the data for all the airlines it is possible
for the airport to estimate how many people will be going through security at
any time. This will have to be an estimation based on the real‐time data, yet it
can be calculated pretty accurately by looking at past statistics. Knowing that a
big flight will be leaving in two hours means that the passengers will be going
through security and that there needs to be enough staff at the security
checkpoint. As such airlines can estimate when they need to increase personnel
and when they will be able to decrease the staff. This would allow for a more
dynamic scheduling of security personnel depending on the flow of people at the
airport, and would avoid the usual lines and bottlenecks that are created when
large groups of people arrive all at once.
Another time‐consuming part of the security process is that people are now
required to take off their shoes, jacket, belts and other metal items before being
allowed to go through the metal detector. The process of removing the clothes is
a slow one, and after being allowed through the detector people need to get
dressed again, creating bottlenecks for the people waiting behind them. I believe
this process could be streamlined if security would just accept to use more
modern technology such as full body scans where people no longer have to take
anything off. The best solution would be to have everyone go through these
machines and if possible even with their carry‐on, and then randomly pick out
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
identify any foreign objects
and it looks like someone is
virtually naked with all
foreign object identified by
a darker color. The scan
takes approximately 15 seconds and doesn’t require any clothing to be removed.
There has been some concern around these machines as they are believed to
invade people’s privacy, but I believe that offering two different lines at the
airport, one with traditional methods and one with this technology would solve
the issue.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 5

6. Waiting time
On the other side of the security checkpoint there is a whole world of shops and
cafés waiting for passengers. It is possible to by duty free items such as alcohol,
perfumes and gadgets or one can have a nice meal at one of the restaurants. The
layout of airports can be confusing though, and it is hard to know how far away
from the gate one really is, which often leads passengers to go directly to their
gates causing them to miss 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
phones that gives them access to an interactive map.
Such an app would be the perfect tool for
the shops and the restaurants to promote
themselves: they can for example give
customers coupons directly on their
phone, or inform them about any ongoing
promotions. The passengers would only
have to scan their phones at the shop in
order to use the coupon and it would also
no longer be necessary to show your
boarding pass at the counter as the
information is stored on the phone.
Geo‐location within the airport could be very precise and would allow airlines to
notify people when they need to start walking towards their gates. If someone’s
shopping at the other side of the airport he or she will need to start walking
earlier then someone that is right next to the gate. Knowing that they will receive
a notification will allow people to sit down for a coffee somewhere without
getting up every 5 minutes to check one of the boards outside the restaurant.
Sometimes you get to the airport at the
last minute and have to hurry to your
gate; this mostly happens on early
morning flights and means that people
usually don’t have time to get their
much‐needed dose of caffeine. Once
they are through security passengers
rush to their gate and then sometimes
have to wait there for an additional 10
minutes before being allowed aboard
the plane, time they could have used to
grab coffee, where it not that there usually aren’t any coffee stands near the
actual gates. The interactive map would be able to take into account that they
want to get coffee and can then show them which route they need to take in
order to make it to their gate on time. If the app is aware of the actual lines at the
different cafés it can even calculate how long it will take for the passenger and
can re‐program the directions if necessary or it can let them know that they
really won’t have time for coffee.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 6

7. Boarding
The boarding process never starts at the time it is supposed to, but having the
app notify you when you need to go to your gate allows you to do more useful
things then just waiting around the seating area. This also avoids the huge lines
that are usually formed around 20 minutes before the boarding is supposed to
start and that make the process very chaotic. On most commercial airlines
people actually have assigned seats and there is no reason you have to be the
first passenger on the plane. Airlines ask people to board the plane by waves,
starting with the premium flyers (business class and frequent flyer card holders)
and then proceed to the rest of the
passengers. It has been shown that
boarding the last rows of the plane
first is more efficient then starting
with the front, as this creates less
blockage in the aisles. As people
now have their boarding passes on
their phones you can notify those
that are allowed to board at first
before you notify the next wave, as
such you create less of chaos and
the process will be much
smoother.
When you only know that they are boarding the plane you don’t actually now if
you need to rush to the gate or if you still have 10 minutes before it is your turn.
An app could inform passengers of which seats the airline is allowing to board in
real‐time and could also give you information on how long the line is. If there are
still 42 people waiting to board the plane it doesn’t make sense to run for the
gate, but if there is no one left, you had better make sure you get moving!
An app can also show a map of the seats that are on the plane, allowing people to
check where they are seated and where they will need to go. They can also check
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
passengers can post their mood or ideas in forms of status updates and that will
be linked to their seat. This way a passenger can share their seat if they so desire
and start talking to the person sitting next to them even before they board the
plane. Or if they meet someone while waiting in the seating area they can make a
request to sit together. If airlines have information on the passengers, such as
mood, hobby and what they plan to do on the plane then they can even suggest
changing seats based on a matchmaking algorithm. Passengers would have to opt
into this of course, and everyone should be able to indicate they don’t want to be
bothered. But someone who wants to sleep during the flight would probably be
much happier to be seated next to someone doing crossword puzzles then
someone who’s very talkative or a kid playing war games on their Gameboy.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 7

8. Upon landing
Once the plane has finished taxiing and is at the gate everyone disembarks and
starts making their way to the exits and the baggage pick‐up point. In some
airports the way is clearly indicated by signs whereas other airports make it very
easy for people to get lost. For example at Amsterdam’s international airport,
Schiphol, passengers arrive at the main departure gates and find themselves in a
huge crowd of people and the signs pointing toward the exits are quite hard to
spot. It would be much easier if passengers had access to an interactive map of
the arrival airport, allowing them to find their way if ever they want to stop and
buy something before going outside.
It would also be fun to receive live updates on the status of your bags. This would
be possible by using the tags that are fixed to every piece of luggage as they
include a bar code that can be directly associated to someone’s boarding pass. Or
passengers could use their phone and scan the receipt that they receive when
they check‐in a bag. This way everyone can see where their luggage is at:
whether it is still on the plane, on one of the airport carts or if it is already on the
conveyor belt. Airports could even attach pictures of different places along the
route that are shown once the bag gets there. This would also re‐assure
passengers that their bag is safely on the plane with them and has not been lost
somewhere along the way.
A lot of people have connecting flights that they need to catch once they get to
the airport and it can be very useful to have access to the list of connecting flights
and the gates that they are flying out of. Having the interactive map then allows
passengers to estimate how much time they have to get to the next gate and
whether they can still stop for that cup of coffee on their way there.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 8

9. Immigration
Unfortunately it is not always possible to rush of the plane, grab your bag and
jump into a cab. When you travel outside of your country there is passport
control and customs that you will need to go through. Right now you will need to
show your actual passport but one can imagine that in the future there will be an
app that allows you to hand them your phone with a special passport app linked
to your fingerprints (you would for example have to press your finger to the
screen in order to unlock it). Just by scanning the phone or by interacting with it
in some other way, officials could check your identity and verify that you are
who you say you are. Having a global database of the world’s citizens would be
very helpful for this.
When you arrive in the US you
are also required to fill out a
paper custom form, this usually
very annoying for you have to go
looking for certain information
such as you passport number,
your flight number as well as the
address of where you will be
staying in the US. Being able to
fill out this form on your phone
directly would make this process
much easier for passengers as all
the information is already stored there. It would also make the information on
the forms more readable for the custom officers, as well as saving a lot trees and
storage space.
Once you arrive at the immigration point it would be easy to give passengers a
number in the queue by having them tap their phone against a reader. There
could then be seats where people can wait instead of having them stand in line
for hours. You would simply wait until your number is being called and then go
up to the counter. This might make the process a little slower as people would
take longer to get to the counter, yet this can be remedied by making sure there
are always enough booths open for the amount of waiting passengers. There is
no need to overstaff all the time, but airports know how many passengers are the
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: the more passengers arriving, the more staff is required.
Sometimes passengers have an extremely short layover and need to catch their
connecting flight. Currently you are not allowed to jump ahead in line and this
causes a lot of people to miss their flights. Having your boarding pass on your
phone would allow immigration to be aware of your situation and they can then
create a special line for those passengers or can give them a faster number.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 9

10. Conclusion
There are a lot of things that can be done in order to make the experience of
travelling by airplane a lot more pleasurable and efficient. I believe that this
essay has explored the different options a digital strategy can provide and would
encourage airports to start thinking about what they can do in order to improve.
Some of the things that I have suggested are easy to implement, such as creating
an app with an interactive map, and would still have tremendous influence on
the way passengers interact with the airport. It should also be fairly easy to
obtain data from the airlines in order to streamline both the security process as
well as immigration. I have to admit I don’t understand why it has to take so long
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 lot more time to implement due to safety
considerations but also the fact that it would require several entities to work
together.
Benjamin Franklin was right after all, airport problems can be avoided, and
airports will only need to develop a digital strategy in order to do so.
Sources:
• All cartoons come from the following website: www.caglecartoons.com
• Information on the body scanners was found on Wikipedia
• The rest of the text was created entirely from my own experiences with
airport and flights around the world and the fair amount of frustration
that has been building up over the years.
“Improving the airport experience through digital strategy” – by Mischa KRIENS 10