Automated ticket and check-in is great, give me humans for everything else

Airports and airlines often speak about bringing as much automation to airports as possible in a bid to improve the experience and make operations more efficient. 

But perhaps there should be a pause of some kind with the technical ambitions of those behind such developments in the aviation sector.

That's perhaps the outcome of a new survey from OAG, which asks airport users if they prefer human versus automation in a broad range of services that are usually provided by the facility.

The poll of 2,000 U.S. travelers found that check-in and ticketing were the only two elements where passengers preferred an automated process.

A human interaction was the most popular choice for everything else, OAG found in the survey.

For example, over half (51%) still want a person handling security procedures, as well as a majority wanting human customer service for concierges, boarding, airport concessions and in-flight service services.

Still, there are some tech-led initiatives that the majority of passengers would be happy with.

Six out of ten say they are fine with an airport tracking their location through GPS-enabled devices so that staff can be deployed to reduce waiting times at known pressure points in the airport experience.

Interactive robots, however, appear not to be getting much enthusiasm from passengers, unless they provide information to travelers.

Vipul Nakum, chief product officer at OAG, says: "We’re seeing that the market isn’t quite ready for a full-fledged automated airport experience – although we expect that evolve over time, with tech eventually becoming the clear preference.

"While investing in emerging technology is smart, travel leaders need to remember the easy and simple wins, like consistent flight status updates, text message alerts before boarding, more baggage loading zones, and in-airport directions and GPS." 

* Check out this presentation at Phocuswright Europe from SITA's Sean Farrell, explaining the role of biometric technology at airports and elsewhere in the travel industry.