Sixty-five percent of air passengers are willing to share personal data if it would expedite the security process, according to the International Air Transport Association's 2018 Global Passenger Survey. Forty-five percent also are willing to replace their passports with biometric identification. Following are more insights IATA gleaned from its survey of 10,408 air passengers from 145 countries between April and July 2018.
Post-Booking Communication
Post-booking, passengers' top priorities were receiving information about flight statuses (82 percent), about baggage (49 percent) and about wait time at security and immigration checkpoints (46 percent). Almost three-quarters prefer to receive travel information via SMS or smartphone app notifications. Fifty-six percent said they preferred real-time baggage tracking.
Check-In
Eighty-four percent of passengers prefer automated check-in. Forty-seven percent prefer to check in on smartphones and 16 percent prefer to check-in with an agent at the airport counter. Senior citizens were more likely to prefer the airport counter more, as one-quarter said so.
Seventy percent of passengers want self-service baggage check. Thirty-nine percent favor electronic bag tags that contain passengers' itineraries. Only one of three prefer agents to tag their bags.
Security & Boarding
Removing personal items from baggage at security checkpoints frustrates 57 percent of air passengers, while 48 percent are frustrated by removing laptops and large electronic devices and 41 percent dislike the lack of consistency in screening procedures at different airports.
Top desires among passengers were more efficient queuing at boarding gates (64 percent), overhead space on places (42 percent) and not having to queue on the air bridge (33 percent).
Flight Disruptions
Forty percent want to resolve flight disruptions over the phone, while 37 percent prefer face-to-face interaction. To improve the travel disruption experience, 54 percent would like real-time, accurate travel notifications; 46 percent want automatic rebooking with new boarding passes; and 39 percent desire face-to-face interaction with an airline agent who will arrange further travel details.