Mobile Apps Changing the Future of Air Travel
In the future, your mobile phone could become your holiday concierge, reminding you to check in the minute you arrive at the airport.
It is a vision that airline passengers could see become reality within the next 12 to 18 months, according to Jim Peters, chief technology officer at airline IT supplier Sita. One of the key areas, which will be the secret sauce, is making use of context.
In the mobile environment you can find out where a person is using GPS and that allows you to deliver a different sort of service than you can on the PC. For instance, if you are getting out of your car at the airport, the app that has the details of your flight realizes you have not checked in and lights up and asks you whether you want to check-in.
The mobile app could also detect when a traveler misses their connection after an incoming flight has been delayed, and then automatically books a seat on the next onward flight, forwarding the departure time and gate for the new flight onto the passenger.
Gregory Ouillon, vice president for development and innovation communication services at Sita, said context-aware apps will help target travelers with the most relevant information. "On a normal website you will get about 100 links to 'go here for weather' or 'here for taxis', while these context-sensitive services would push to you only the information that you need."
Peters believes these apps will be spurred on when smartphones become entry-level devices in the mobile-phone market.
Sita is currently piloting a mobile web app with Malaysia Airlines that allows passengers to check flight schedules, fares and local shopping from their phones, and which could eventually make use of context.
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