Top Stories
-
The case for flipping the airport design model
TransportIf ticketing no longer holds much significance, why does the ticketing lobby still dominate the architecture of a terminal? The idea of celebrating ticketing and check-in as the beginning of a journey is now anachronism. The arrival of a passenger to a community is the most significant moment in travel today, but airports continue to [...]
-
Qantas takes off pork from menu on Dubai flights after Emirates tie-up
TransportAustralian airline Qantas Airways has removed food items containing pork and alcohol from its in-flight menu on routes that transit through Dubai. The move comes following the launch of a major global alliance between Qantas and Dubai-based Emirates Airline that came into force on April 1. The tie-up will see the two carriers collaborate on [...]
-
U.S. airline passengers are getting grumpier — can you blame them?
TransportU.S. airlines improved their performance last year in two key areas: the number of mishandled bags and on-time arrivals. Even so, passenger complaints rose nearly 20 percent, a new study shows. The study, the annual Airline Quality Rating report, looks at four major areas of airline performance: mishandled bags, on-time arrivals, denied boardings and customer [...]
-
Surprise, surprise, airlines are listening to customer surveys
TransportAirline surveys are influencing everything from menu choices to airport and airplane repairs, not to mention employee training and executive bonuses. Another benefit besides figuring out if first-class customers prefer omelets or cereal: By corralling angry customers, airlines can intercept grievances before fliers resort to filing complaints at the Department of Transportation or squawking about [...]
-
La Quinta CEO on how the hotel technology world has changed
RoomsIt used to be that it was all about giving the guest the technology that they needed and wanted. You would make that technology available and put it in the room, whether it was a fax machine or the delivery of bandwidth to the room….Today, it isn’t about giving them technology. It’s about giving them [...]
-
12 In-flight innovations to keep an eye out for
TransportIn-flight innovation these days focuses a lot on purely digital developments, including wi-fi and debate around BYOD (bring-your-own-device), but a lot is happening elsewhere too, from interior design, to storage of food, to making restrooms more user-friendly. The annual Crystal Cabin Awards recognizes excellence in aviation interior innovation, and for the 2013 awards, it recently [...]
-
Pay-as-you-weigh for airline passengers a possibility?
TransportAirlines should introduce “pay as you weigh” pricing for plane tickets, an academic has suggested. Charging overweight fliers more would help carriers recoup the cost of the extra fuel required to carry them. The idea has been floated in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management publication, by Bharat P Bhatta, an academic in Norway. [...]
-
The art and voodoo science behind airlines amenity kits
TransportWith the airline business relatively stable and momentarily (if thinly) profitable, carriers can fiddle with frills like the amenity kit they offer as perks to their big-ticket customers in premium classes. But like so much of the airline industry, the logic of the kits is more art than science, more voodoo than research…”An amenity kit [...]
-
14 lessons from the best and worst sites in the airline industry
TransportDespite offering one of the consistently worst user experiences of any website in the travel industry, United Airlines continues to promote it. While I’m hardly the first to point out the usability flaws, what IS amazing is that it has been nearly a year later and the site shows no signs of any improvement. It is [...]
-
Heathrow trials biometric self-boarding with South African Airways
TransportHeathrow Airport has started a two month ‘self-boarding’ trial in partnership with South African Airways, which uses biometric data to help them board their flight faster and more efficiently. When passengers reach the ‘self-boarding’ gate, they pass through an automatic electronic barrier which takes an infrared scan of their face. This information is checked against [...]
