Quo Vadis – Self service Part 2
By Klaus Heeder, Airline Consultant
Steps of the passenger Model:
[1.] Search
[2.] Buy
[3.] Manage my Booking
[4.] Check-in
[5.] Border Control - Exit
|
[6.] Boarding
[7.] In-Flight (Com / Entert.)
[8.] Transfer / Connect
[9.] Border Control – Entry
[10.] Baggage Claim
[11.] Post Flight |
Decision criteria for deploying self service in today's environment
If you are an airline and you are looking at moving into self service or looking at enhancing your self service offerings in one of the Steps of the Passenger Model listed above, one of the factors that is important to understand is that the self-service points require very different deployment decision criteria, including:
- Availability and degree of familiarity to the passenger
- Will it change or secure a purchasing decision of a passenger which would not have bought
a ticket for the same price.
All of the above have to fulfill the government requirements of the location under consideration.
Passenger self service is a tool to enhance or change customer perception and brand image. It has to be evaluated keeping this in mind and including the respective departments. Secondly, it is vital for the decision on what to deploy to define up front what one wants to achieve with passenger self service. For example, an airline may want to add additional channels for check-in in order to reduce the number of desks or reduce the queuing time, while at the same time wanting to keep a high quality, personal care image. The steps on what to deploy, with which quality have to be planned and tested with the passengers very carefully as a machine based process will create a consistent experience. Therefore, it is necessary that the experience matches the brand image. If deployed with thought, parts of the grid shown below may enhance the desired brand image, as well as provide for substantial cost savings.
Pre-travel |
Check-in |
Security & Boarder Control |
Boarding |
Information collection on destination and selection of destination |
Passenger & document match and verification
|
Border control / passport control |
Find and walk to the gate |
Book journey |
check-in passenger
|
Verification of travel documents |
Arrive at the gate |
Prepare for journey
|
check-in Baggage
|
Passenger screening |
Verification and matching of boarding pass and passenger |
Register to frequent flyer program
|
Issue / receive boarding pass & issue baggage tag and check baggage |
Screening of Carry-on baggage |
Go to the aircraft & find your seat |
Spend miles for additional offers like upgrades
|
Baggage control |
Enter security area and proceed to gate |
|
Travel to airport |
Handover baggage to airport logistics |
|
|
Arrive at departure airport |
Proceed to security & boarder control |
|
|
Critical success factors for the deployment of self service offerings
- Understand what makes your customers fly with you versus competitors.
- Focus on cost savings where it will not negatively impact the passengers buying decision.
- Focus on differentiation points where it will impact the passengers buying behaviour to your favour.
- Understand the minimum number of processed passengers needed by location to recover your investment.
- Test the passenger experience for each service with target focus groups / samples before the main investment is made. Adopt your service to the results of the sample.
- Plan for process changes and staff education.
- Be aware that competitive service advantages do not last for long and will be copied and anticipate this by introducing in steps to provide for a “one step ahead” approach.
Would you like to find out more about how self-service can work for your airline?
Please contact airline and IT expert Klaus Heeder: Klaus.Heeder@gmx.de
|
