2008 Passenger Self-Service Survey: Airlines Must Adapt Operations to Self-Service Environment

This article describes some of the findings of the 2008 Passenger Self-Service Survey by SITA, a large provider of IT services to the airline industry. It collected data from passengers at six airports in what is the third year of the survey. They are Atlanta, Paris CDG, Moscow DME, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, and Johannesburg. Even where there is more limited technological deployment, passengers were generally enthusiastic about the promise of self-service options. Price and schedule were the two leading reasons customers chose one flight over the others. A weighted average of 58 percent of passengers said they booked their tickets online, and a weighted average of 67 percent said they would have a clear preference for booking online in the future, showing a nine-point gap between actual and desired usage. At some airports, customers were not aware of the option. At others, customers said they didn’t think they could buy cheaper tickets online. In Mumbai 28 percent of the passengers said they didn’t have a credit card, with 20 percent saying they didn’t have Internet access. A weighted average of 18 percent said they had never booked a ticket online. Self-service check-in does not have the penetration of online booking. A weighted average of 35.9 percent used self-service check-in on the day of the survey, but there were wide regional disparities. However, there were strong preferences expressed for self-service checking in. Most non-users cited having baggage as an obstacle to checking in at a self-service kiosk. Another concern is that the kiosks will be broken, disrupting the schedule.