This post will be organized around the following topics :
Why will passengers want to use it ?
What are the benefits to airlines ?
Are the benefits to airports limited to passenger process ?
Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Indoor geolocation in airports, how does it work ?
Indicating a precise position inside a building. Is this a dream?
Well not anymore. New technologies that do inside what GPS does outside have developed. They allow a cell phone user to navigate inside an airport exactly as he would do in a street.
As GPS signals are not available inside buildings, it is necessary to install an infrastructure that will play a similar role. This infrastructure can be made of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth emitters.
The geolocation system uses Bluetooth or Wi-Fi emitters to determine the position by calculating the distance from each emitter. This technique is called "triangulation" because it refers to the fact that calculating a position on a map requires to calculate distance from 3 known points.
A very important point to notice is that these technologies allow to identify the right level in the building. For example, emitters at the departure level are not the same as the ones at arrival level.
Accuracy depends on several factors such as emitters density (number of emitters in the area, the more emitters the higher the accuracy), height at which emitters are placed, speed of calculation, algorithms... but a good estimate is to say that it ranges from 3m to 10m. Typical density for Bluetooth emitters is around 1 emitter per 100 square meters. For Wi-Fi, density is around 1 emitter for 500 to 1000 square meters.
As emitters’ price and ease of installation are different, choice between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is really location specific. No generic rule can apply.
Setting up such a system requires to calibrate the map. This means teaching to the system where the emitters are. Instead of doing this theoretically by indicating emitters’ position on the map it is usually quicker to take a series of measurement on site and indicate to the system what the location is.
The addressable market for such solutions is the portion of users that have a phone on which a map can be displayed, and that has Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It is considered that approximately 30% of the global population in western countries has a phone compatible with these technologies. Among passenger, it is likely that the proportion is around 70%.
Well not anymore. New technologies that do inside what GPS does outside have developed. They allow a cell phone user to navigate inside an airport exactly as he would do in a street.
As GPS signals are not available inside buildings, it is necessary to install an infrastructure that will play a similar role. This infrastructure can be made of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth emitters.
The geolocation system uses Bluetooth or Wi-Fi emitters to determine the position by calculating the distance from each emitter. This technique is called "triangulation" because it refers to the fact that calculating a position on a map requires to calculate distance from 3 known points.
A very important point to notice is that these technologies allow to identify the right level in the building. For example, emitters at the departure level are not the same as the ones at arrival level.
Accuracy depends on several factors such as emitters density (number of emitters in the area, the more emitters the higher the accuracy), height at which emitters are placed, speed of calculation, algorithms... but a good estimate is to say that it ranges from 3m to 10m. Typical density for Bluetooth emitters is around 1 emitter per 100 square meters. For Wi-Fi, density is around 1 emitter for 500 to 1000 square meters.
As emitters’ price and ease of installation are different, choice between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is really location specific. No generic rule can apply.
Setting up such a system requires to calibrate the map. This means teaching to the system where the emitters are. Instead of doing this theoretically by indicating emitters’ position on the map it is usually quicker to take a series of measurement on site and indicate to the system what the location is.
The addressable market for such solutions is the portion of users that have a phone on which a map can be displayed, and that has Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It is considered that approximately 30% of the global population in western countries has a phone compatible with these technologies. Among passenger, it is likely that the proportion is around 70%.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Concierge menu - How to make good use of floor walkers2
Some airlines that have placed kiosks as a priority in their check-in strategy can handle more than 95% of passengers with self-service kiosks. Those 5% left can be handled in 3 ways: floor walkers, regular counters or help desk.
The case with regular counters is that they have usually been converted into fast bag drop counters, with access to only limited check in functions (if this is not the case, it should!). Alternatively, passengers can be directed to help desk or regular counters. Customer service is good but very sensitive to traffic: in case of epidemic issue, these counters get saturated and queues appear.
The common idea is that floor walkers (also called roving agents) help with kiosk usage and reassure passengers. This is a view that comes from the early days of kiosks, when kiosks could only attend 60% of the needs (depending on airline and region cases such as booking with multiple PNR, international travel could not be handled on kiosks).
But what if those floor walkers would handle all the exceptions (reprint bag tag, wave seat fee,...)? Sounds ideal no? Passengers could be served immediately, with few extra resources, no training, no signage,… Well, that is not complicated in fact!
What is only required is an access to agent-only functions on the self-service kiosk: This is the concierge option. Access to that hidden menu is granted though a password (cumbersome), a special touch combination on the screen (still requires the agent to identify) or better through the use of a token (magnetic card, RFID token, barcode,).
The content of the concierge option depends on the actual processes in place: reprint bag tags, cancel bag tags, waive seat fee, over weight fee ...). On top of this the menu can be enhanced over time to address more cases.
The benefits are so important it is really surprising how few airlines have implemented such a simple solution!
• Better customer service: customers can be serviced where they are. No need to go to counter Z.
• Better use of floorwalkers: go to the terminal and ask floor walkers about their jobs: many will say “it is very boring”, “We are doing nothing but looking at passengers”. Indeed, over time passengers have become experts in kiosks usage and want to do everything themselves.
• Reduced counter costs (obvious!)
The case with regular counters is that they have usually been converted into fast bag drop counters, with access to only limited check in functions (if this is not the case, it should!). Alternatively, passengers can be directed to help desk or regular counters. Customer service is good but very sensitive to traffic: in case of epidemic issue, these counters get saturated and queues appear.
The common idea is that floor walkers (also called roving agents) help with kiosk usage and reassure passengers. This is a view that comes from the early days of kiosks, when kiosks could only attend 60% of the needs (depending on airline and region cases such as booking with multiple PNR, international travel could not be handled on kiosks).
But what if those floor walkers would handle all the exceptions (reprint bag tag, wave seat fee,...)? Sounds ideal no? Passengers could be served immediately, with few extra resources, no training, no signage,… Well, that is not complicated in fact!
What is only required is an access to agent-only functions on the self-service kiosk: This is the concierge option. Access to that hidden menu is granted though a password (cumbersome), a special touch combination on the screen (still requires the agent to identify) or better through the use of a token (magnetic card, RFID token, barcode,).
The content of the concierge option depends on the actual processes in place: reprint bag tags, cancel bag tags, waive seat fee, over weight fee ...). On top of this the menu can be enhanced over time to address more cases.
The benefits are so important it is really surprising how few airlines have implemented such a simple solution!
• Better customer service: customers can be serviced where they are. No need to go to counter Z.
• Better use of floorwalkers: go to the terminal and ask floor walkers about their jobs: many will say “it is very boring”, “We are doing nothing but looking at passengers”. Indeed, over time passengers have become experts in kiosks usage and want to do everything themselves.
• Reduced counter costs (obvious!)
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