In the news: TripAdvisor’s air travel survey, IATA’s new initiative for smaller carry-on bags, AirAsia’s hunt for the Asean Traveller
Survey discloses what travellers like and dislike about flying
Flight delay or cancellation is the top peeve of travellers. (Image credit: Kenishirotie/iStock)
Flight delays, being squeezed into uncomfortable seat with no room for legs, noisy children – these are some of the pet peeves when travelling by air according to the annual air travel survey by TripAdvisor.
The top peeve by 73% of the respondent is unpredictable flight delay or cancelled flights, followed closely by uncomfortable seats/limited legroom (70%), sdded fees for seat selection fees/extra baggage (58%), long security lines/customs wait times (52%), and loud/crying children.
Seats seem to be the main grouse as the survey revealed travellers were rather unhappy over shrinking seats, with 65% “strongly opposed” to airlines installing narrower seats in the economy class cabin.
Thirty-eight percent of those polled “always” or “often” pay extra for a better airplane seat assignment, while 54% said they are more likely to pay for a better seat assignment now than they were five years ago.
On what they would like to see improved to make air travel experience better, 28% of the respondents chose more comfortable seats, 23% more legroom, while 18% opted for more space between other passengers.
However, it’s not all gloom and doom when flying. When asked for the top five things they like most about air travel, 68% of the respondents picked the thrill of getting to a new destination as the most favoured. The others are the sense of adventure (51%), in-flight amenities (38%), looking out of the plane’s window during take-off/landing (36%), and a break from work during flight (33%)
Travellers are happy with improvements in air travel in the past five years, with ease of booking online getting the thumbs up from 74% of the respondents. Equally appreciated are routes to new destinations (64%), number of flight/itinerary options (64%), comparison shopping on flight search sites (55%), and comprehensive fare, flight and price information on a single site – 29%
“With the rise of low-cost carriers, we can expect to see more growth for short-haul flights in the next few years. While air travel continues to be popular, seat comfort remains the biggest concern for flyers in the region,” said Andrew Wong, regional director of TripAdvisor Flights, APAC.
“To better serve the traveller, airlines would be wise to take note of these complaints and make some improvements, especially in the economy cabin for long-haul flights,” he added.
TripAdvisor’s air travel survey was conducted with 2,566 travellers from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, from April 24 to May 7, 2015.
Size of airline carry-on bags to shrink
Recommended carry-on bag size by IATA. (Image credit: IATA)
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced a new initiative to shrink the size of carry-on bags to “bring common sense and order to the problem of differing sizes for carry-on bags.”
Working with airline members of IATA and aircraft manufacturers, an optimum size guideline for carry-on bags has been agreed that will make the best use of cabin storage space.
A size of 55 x 35 x 20 cm (or 21.5 x 13.5 x 7.5 inches) means that theoretically everyone should have a chance to store their carry-on bags on board aircraft of 120 seats or larger.
Tom Windmuller, IATA’s senior vice president for airport, passenger, cargo and security, said: “We know the current situation can be frustrating for passengers. The programme is designed to bring a degree of standardisation make thing easier for everybody.”
For the passengers, when they buy the bag they know they can be take it on board. For the airlines it will mean faster turnaround as they have few bags to bring to the ramp and into the hold.
An “IATA Cabin OK” logo to signify to airline staff that a bag meets the agreed size guidelines has been developed. The white on blue logo is on the back of the carry-on bag near the handle.
Windmuller said about 30 to 40 international airlines have signalled their interest to join the initiative, with about a dozen accepting it including Emirates, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Caribbean Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Avianca and Azul. They will soon be introducing the guidelines into their operations.
He is confident several major airlines will join the imitative in the next several months.
IATA is working with baggage tracking solutions provider Okoban to manage the approval process of bag manufacturers. Each bag meeting the dimensions of the specifications will carry a special joint label featuring IATA and Okoban, as well as a unique identification code that signals to airline staff that the bag complies with the optimum size guidelines.
Several major baggage manufacturers have developed products in line with the optimum size guidelines, and it is expected bags carrying the identifying label will start to reach retail shops later this year.
The association said recognition of the IATA Cabin OK logo is expected to grow with time as more airlines opt-in to the initiative.
AirAsia’s on the hunt for the Asean Traveller
AirAsia Asean Traveller contest is on now.
Low cost carrier, AirAsia, is searching for the Asean Traveller through a contest, which will see five winners exploring the wonders of Asean countries with the AirAsia Asean Pass.*
The travellers the carrier is looking for are a Beach Specialist, Instagram Artist, Selfie Expert, Pro-Foodie or Extreme Daredevil.
The Asean Traveller Contest runs from now until July 12, 2015. It is open to everyone in the AirAsia network including the 10 Asean countries, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.
Contestants are required to submit their most creative video resumes for any of the five category of Asean Traveller. They can visit aseantraveller.airasia.com for full details on how to participate, as well as submit their video resumes via the microsite.
Five Asean Travellers will be selected, one for each category. The winners will be sent on a journey to the Asean countries, as well as to destinations within the airline’s network, with flights and accommodation provided.
The journey starts from the winner’s home base. Each Asean Traveller has to complete a list of fun tasks and finish the trip itinerary, drawn according to the category and highlight the wonders of Asean.
Siegtraund Teh, AirAsia group chief commercial officer, said: “The AirAsia Asean Traveller Contest is our continuous commitment towards Asean and is a great way to showcase how well-rounded the Asean Pass product actually is, whilst giving fans a chance to explore the region to its fullest based on itineraries set by AirAsia according to each position.
* The AirAsia Asean Pass and the AirAsia Asean Pass+ allows guests to enjoy flights at a fixed-rate to over 148 routes across all 10 Asean countries. Acting like a single currency, it removes the hassle of different foreign exchange rates, as flights are valued according to credits, allowing guests to be creative in planning their ideal trip through Asean.
