Skipping the queue at airports by using the finger or face to go through passport checks is perhaps one of the feature most welcomed by travellers departing for a foreign land or coming home after a trip.
The recently released SITA 2019 Passenger IT Insights found this to be so as it revealed airline passengers are happier when technology ease their way through passport control, a traditional pain point of the journey.
More and more passengers are now using technology for passport checks. Last year the number of travellers using automated technology for passport checks doubled to 44% compared to 2017 (21%), and were more satisfied when doing so too.
Passengers were also 3.85% more satisfied when they used self-scanning gates to verify their ID, compared to those using agent-assisted controls. The satisfaction rate among these users was 8.36 out of 10.
“One of the standout findings of our report this year is that at every point in the journey, where passengers use technology, the rate of satisfaction is higher,” Matthys Serfontein, SITA president, Air Travel Solutions, commented.
The research, co-sponsored by Air Transport World, explores how technology is contributing to a smoother passenger experience and highlights passenger technology adoption and preferences, satisfaction rate and service used.
(Image credit: Tzido/GettyImages)
Automated gates at boarding are also a welcome service. There was 2.2% increase in satisfaction among passengers when they could scan their own documents to board.
“Across the board we have found that passengers are keen to use the biometric self-service process, when given a choice over 90% of travellers typically opt in,” said Serfontein. “Actions speak louder than words and it’s becoming very clear that people like using biometrics for easy travel.”
Passengers are also ready to use technology even more and in a variety of ways when it comes to verifying their identity. SITA reports that 59% are ‘very willing’ to use their mobiles for ID verification along the journey, with a further 33% open to the idea.
However, SITA said that although proving identity using the mobile device is not widely available today, nine out of 10 passengers potentially welcome this service. Airlines and airports can thus “be confident when moving to mobile services for ID identification”.
The findings in the report are based on a survey of passengers from 20 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, representing over 70% of global passenger traffic. The full report is available here.
• Featured image credit: JIRAROJ PRADITCHAROENKUL/Getty Image
