Miami becomes first worldwide to provide fast entry process via app

Karima Kouidri

Miami International Airport (MIA) is the first airport in the world to bring the convenience of Mobile Passport Control,

the fast entry process into the USA, into its own airport app experience.

US citizens and Canadian visitors arriving into Miami can now use the MIA Airport Official app to submit details to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and simply receive a barcode on their phone to present for clearance.
This convenient service, developed by global air transport IT provider SITA and certified by US CBP for Mobile Passport Control, speeds up the entry process into the USA. As an integral part of MIA’s official app, the new mobile service builds on the personal travel assistant experience already being offered to Miami’s passengers.
“The goal of our mobile app has always been to put as many services as possible in the palm of the traveller’s hand,” said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. González.

“Now, with the help of SITA’s innovative technology, in addition to easily finding your way to all you need at MIA, North American passengers can now also breeze through passport control with the same customer-friendly travel app.”
Miami International Airport offers more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other US airport. It is America’s third-busiest airport for international passengers, with more than half of its 44.6 million passengers on international travel.
SITA offers the service as an SDK (software development kit). The SDK has been authorised by CBP for airports, airlines and other travel app providers to incorporate the entry process into their own mobile app.
Randy Pizzi, SITA President, Americas, said: “We are very pleased to be a technology partner with MIA as they become the first to incorporate the convenience of US CBP Mobile Passport Control into their airport application. Passenger satisfaction increases when technology solutions, like SITA’s, make it easy for passengers to manage their journey using just one convenient application on their own smartphone or tablet.”
SITA’s innovative design ensures the CBP requirements are met, which reduces the certification process for app developers. It enables eligible travellers to use an airport or airline’s app on their mobile device to submit their passport information and answer CBP inspection-related questions prior to CBP inspection. The convenient service does not require pre-approval and is free to use.
Today the SDK from SITA is available to any international airport in the USA or any airline flying passengers to the USA. SITA is also in discussions with other governments who are looking to digitise their landing card, customs and border clearance procedures. Providing such services via mobile devices enables direct communication with travellers which supports secure pre-clearance and helps streamline the passenger journey.

source : https://tinyurl.com/y8jh3l7k

 

E-paper specialist Media Carrier grows footprint across travel industry

Karima Kouidri

Media Library :

With more than 600 publications from 41 countries available in its ever-growing digital media library, e-paper specialist Media Carrier is enjoying robust take-up in the travel industry for its Media Box solution, including across Lufthansa Group airlines and in more than 1,000 luxury and five-star hotels worldwide.

But providing travelers with access to the world’s top magazines and newspapers via their electronic devices isn’t just about informing and entertaining them, and driving brand loyalty. It gives airlines the option to rid themselves of the paper equivalent on board, creating savings in terms of logistics, weight and fuel consumption.

Media Carrier explains its solution thusly:

Media Box is web-based and can therefore be used with any Internet-enabled device – iPhone, iPad, Android or tablet PC and notebook. The user does not have to install an app or register personal data but simply connects the device to the local WLAN. The start page offers a link to Media Box, where the newspapers and magazines are to be found. The desired publications can then be downloaded with a mouse click.

So for example, Air Dolomiti passengers have access to Media Box via the Air Dolomiti website three days before their flight. There, they can choose their preferred titles from a range of 100 different national and international newspapers and magazines, and download them as a PDF file.

Italian leisure carriers Air Dolomiti and Neos give passengers access to a comprehensive range of e-papers. Image: Media Carrier

For airlines, the biggest attraction to Media Box “is cost savings and an increase of service for their passengers because in the print world, they usually have only newspapers or not-so-common magazines [on] offer. But with our solutions they can have all the big brands of newspapers and magazines on time, and the right amount for each and every nationality traveling with the airline,” Media Carrier managing director Philipp Jacke tells Runway Girl Network.

“So it’s a cost savings factor because airlines only have to purchase just what the customer is requesting. And the second thing is, of course, the increase in service because we can reach out to every publisher and provide every kind of publication that they have. And, additionally, an airline can provide their own publication [via] our solution as well.”

Media Carrier customizes Media Box for each client. Oman Air last year became a Media Box customer, so Media Carrier brokered agreements with publishers in Oman to cater to the airline’s needs. It is now able to offer these titles to others customers, thereby bolstering its own portfolio of titles.

Once an airline has adopted Media Box, integrating the solution into its IFE app is the natural next step. But offering the content over wireless entertainment systems on board aircraft – i.e. stored on a server and streamed to passengers’ own devices – is also an option pursued by some airlines.

“We have a few implementations in the wireless IFE for Lufthansa Systems’ BoardConnect,” says Jacke, referencing the high-quality digital magazines streamed to passengers’ devices. “We figured it out on Lufthansa Systems [and] did a great job there.” But due to the time-sensitive nature of newspapers, the opportunity to bring a vast amount of newspaper content on board via wireless IFE is more limited, he notes, “especially in the non-connectivity IFE” realm.

Does Media Carrier believe airlines will ultimately replace their own inflight magazines with digital solutions? Not necessarily, says Jacke, who notes that inflight magazines are seen as providing an important distraction for fearful flyers.

With that said, given that “modern gate-to-gate wireless IFE systems can provide them with digital reading material right away as well”, Media Carrier does include inflight magazines and inflight shopping magazines in its portfolio.

“Lufthansa has six different publications [of its own] that we have in our portfolio, like Lufthansa Woman’s World, and all these other publications that are not displayed on board, so [it provides] an opportunity to display their magazines as well,” says Jacke.

In the transportation industry, Media Carrier does not limit itself to the aviation sector (airlines and airport lounges). “We have a couple of train companies that we are servicing, and cruise ships as well. So these are the major areas that we are covering.”

In terms of growth, Media Carrier – which has a strong position in Europe – sees more opportunities in the Middle East. And the firm recently opened up an office in New York “so of course the North American market is also” a target, says Jacke. “So these are the major areas that we are covering and the biggest advantage of our solution is that it is bespoke for each and every customer when it comes to appearance as well as implementation as well as the portfolio.”

source : https://tinyurl.com/ycqsswt4

Business of Loyalty: Using Big Data to Measure Sentiment Across Loyalty Programs

Karima Kouidri

Until the time comes when airlines need to compete for customers again, passenger sentiment many not matter.

— Grant Martin

Loyalty programs in the airline industry have evolved dramatically over the last few years to favor high-spend customers and trim budget travelers from the ranks — after all, with the sector booming, who needs to incentivize new customers?

The course has slimmed down loyalty programs and aggravated some budget travelers, but until recently, most of the negative sentiment has been only recorded on the fringes of social media, where it’s tough to draw quantitative trends.

Now, a new study from Travel Data Daily has been able to look at aggregate data across social channels to predict how unhappy loyalty program members can be and when they’re at risk of taking business to other carriers.

The study used Cathay Pacific’s Marco Polo program, which made major changes in 2015, as a case study. By analyzing the social feeds of over 13,000 elite program members, the study determined the points at which customers became unhappy with the program and the subsequent moment when they switched carriers.

“..When loyalty members who consistently talk about their home airline suddenly begin talking about another airline in a positive manner or asking questions related to another airline, our research suggests the propensity for this individual to book a flight or switch loyalty programs significantly increases,” the study concluded.

In total, the study hypothesized that about 1,200 elite members in the test group — just under 10% — likely defected from Cathay Pacific after the loyalty program changes were made.

Though the study stops at analyzing Cathay Pacific, it’s easy to see how similar movement may be afoot across legacy U.S. carriers. American Airlines, in particular, has taken a heavy dose of criticism from its customers this year thanks to not only new spend-based elite status requirements but also a lack of award space available for those that do end up earning any miles. On top of that, many regular travelers on the airline bemoan the service now delivered by the recently merged carrier, which is still bringing two service and flight teams together to the same standard.

Basic Economy, which is now in place at all three legacy carriers, has also exacerbated passenger unease and no doubt by extension, loyalty churn. As more passengers learn about lack of benefits and elite status that comes along with basic economy fares, more are losing their faith in loyalty programs.

Were Travel Data Daily to run a similar study on the American legacy carriers, it might find record levels of passenger dissatisfaction with loyalty programs. By design, spend-based loyalty programs are made to award high-spend customers and shrink the pool of participants. The question isn’t how unhappy passengers are, however, it’s whether the loyalty programs care.

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source ; https://tinyurl.com/yaalw27d

Chatbots Are the Future of Meeting and Event Communication and Networking

Karima Kouidri

The increased acceptance and use of chatbots and AI is changing the way event

and meeting professionals connect with attendees and making events more efficient for the planners and the attendees.

— Sheryll Poe

Frank, a feature in the event’s app, is an experimental chatbot that used artificial intelligence (AI) to interact with event attendees over messaging apps, and was capable of answering basic event questions via the event website and Facebook page. Armed with the goal of using “IMEX as a test bed for piloting new ideas under controlled and managed conditions and in a real-life environment,” IMEXlabs partnered with messaging platform Scen.sio to develop Frank.

Frank passed his debut with flying colors, according to Miguel Neves, digital content and community manager at IMEX Group. Frank was “largely successful in answering the many questions fired at him. … We saw a significant improvement of the responses from the chatbot technology throughout the period it was in use. This was due to the Sciens.io team re-programming Frank during this period, and Frank’s ability to constantly improve its answers,” Neves said.

Improving Event Experiences

Over the past five years, artificial intelligence and machine learning have made substantial inroads into the mainstream and into our daily lives. Products such as Siri, Amazon Echo, and Google Home are fulfilling our desires for immediate answers, resolutions, and general information, and that has led to the surging popularity of chatbots. Messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack, all incorporate some text-based AI to help us connect.

With the AI market expected to grow to $4.05 billion by 2020, according to research firm Markets and Markets, it is clear these new self-learning and ever-improving technologies have limitless potential in a variety of industries, including events and conferences.

“AI and cognitive computing are impacting areas customer service in a big way,” said IMEX’s Neves. “Chatbots are still somewhat experimental, but many of the basic questions around events can be answered in a polite, personalized and accurate way 24/7. This is not too far from creating a well thought-out responsive website for the event, but goes much further in terms of usability.”

With text-based services like meeting agendas, scheduling, floorplans, feedback polls and surveys, chatbots like Scens.io’s Concierge EventBot, Event2Mobile’s Eva, ConfBot, and
Morph.ai, can help event planners customize and personalize information to fit attendees’ needs in an easy-to-use manner, allowing attendees and organizers make the most of their time and resources.

Enabling Smarter Networking

Another use for AI in the meetings and events industry is to facilitate networking between participants during events. For example, U.K.-based Grip is a smart event matchmaking app that is transforming some high-profile events, including the Cannes Lions Awards. Grip uses AI to process attendee profiles and behavior data to make matchmaking suggestions for professional networking.

“Overall, we believe that artificial intelligence enables us to enable people to network smarter with the goal being to spend less time looking at their phones at events and spend more time face-to-face,” Grip co-founder and CEO Tim Groot said. “Just as Google enabled people to spend less time searching for information online our mission is to do the same thing for networking at events: more networking for your work.”

Just how good is Grip’s AI? At the Cannes Lion Awards, the event’s Grip-enabled app had more than 750,000 swipes and made more than 10,000 digital “handshakes.”

“We’re delighted with the response to the new app, which transformed the way people met. With over 15,000 attendees this year, it was vital the right connections were made with the right people,” said Cannes Lions digital project manager Richard Boswell.

Making the right connections — whether it’s with potential clients or with the right information — is where AI can help events run smoother, save time and provide a personalized experience, Neves said. “Better designed events, with better technology will certainly produce even more valuable face-to-face interactions.”

source : https://tinyurl.com/yaohhole

 

A Place to Enjoy Moments of Stillness: Frankfurt Airport Opens “Quiet Room”

Karima Kouidri

Frankfurt Airport has added a Quiet Room where travelers can do exactly that

In these days of being constantly available thanks to modern technology, many people long for a place to take refuge from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and turn inward. And now

Harry Gatterer, a trend researcher and futurologist who leads the Zukunftsinstitut (“Future Institute”) in Frankfurt and Vienna, explains why havens like this are so important in today’s fast-paced world: “In the 21st century, we are constantly bombarded by masses of information and bathed in the glow of screens with hardly a break. The so-called information society is now reacting to this overkill with a countertrend: mindfulness. It’s therefore safe to say that in the future, people will actively seek moments in which to reflect and reconnect with themselves. This type of everyday spirituality is poised to become an essential survival technique. The principle of ‘strength in serenity’ has never before been so relevant.”

Frankfurt Airport has responded to this widespread wish for a place of silence by creating the “Quiet Room”, which all passengers may use for free regardless of their worldview, culture and religious affiliation. The highlight of the white room is an undulating golden ceiling illuminated by lamps that reflect the light onto the floor and walls. An oak bench occupies the middle of the room, inviting travelers to sit down and enjoy moments of rest and contemplation.

The Quite Room is located in the postsecurity part of Terminal 1 on Level 3 of Pier Z and is open daily until 10 p.m.

The airport’s operator, Fraport, has coined the motto “Gute Reise! We make it happen” to communicate its commitment to serving passengers and meeting their individual needs and wishes. It constantly strives to upgrade the customer experience at Germany’s most important transportation hub by launching new services and facilities.

source  : https://tinyurl.com/y7r8z6tw

 

Changi Airport Terminal 4 *EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW*

Karima Kouidri

Singapore Changi Airport is set to open its latest terminal: Terminal 4, later this year,

and I was lucky to be invited as part of a media tour of this new terminal building, which is compact and has a boutique feel.

Based on the theme of fun, vibrant, and positively surprising, Terminal 4 is designed to create a sense of spaciousness, and uses natural light and lush greenery to create a bright and relaxing ambiance. Various contemporary artwork, including six giant Petalclouds adds to the traveller’s experience, as with the LED displays, which include the Immersive Wall that spans across the centralised security screening area. The Heritage Zone façade (with colourful shophouses that pays tribute to Singapore’s rich Peranakan culture) also reveals a theatrical play, “Peranakan Love Story”, a romance story that would captivate travellers awaiting their flights. This unique airport experience has to be one of my favourite parts of the terminal.

As with the existing terminals, Terminal 4 will feature an array – over 80 of them – of retail and food and beverage outlets.


Nine airlines: AirAsia Group (Malaysia AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, Thai AirAsia), Cathay Pacific Airways, Cebu Pacific Air, Korean Air, Spring Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines will move their operations to Terminal 4 when it is opened.

Thank you for watching this exclusive preview of Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 on FlightTravels.

For more information on Changi Airport Terminal 4: http://t4.changiairport.com/

Australian airports to introduce new ‘contactless’ traveller clearance system

Karima Kouidri

new ‘contactless’ traveller clearance system

Vision-Box has today entered into a contract with the Australian Government to deliver what it claims to be the world’s first automated ‘contactless’ traveller clearance processes for airline passengers arriving in Australia.

The next generation of Automated Border Control passenger-processing technology will be introduced under the umbrella of Australia’s Seamless Traveller programme and be installed at all international airports.

According to Vision Box, the new system will assist the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection to collect and verify biometric data from all passengers arriving at Australian International Airports.

It will also deliver a new capability that will enable known travellers toself-process through the border without the need to physically use a passport (contactless), entirely relying on facial recognition technology.

Miguel Leitmann, CEO and co-Founder of Vision-Box, says: “This contract represents an unparalleled milestone in the history of automation at the border, since it isthe first time a government will implement biometric identification through contactless services.

“We are permanently investing in R&D to bring innovation at the service of more secure and frictionless border control solutions.

“By selecting Vision-Box, the Australian Government once again puts its trust onto us, to build their leading ambition, which is an amazing recognition to our commitment to society in this respect.

“This is the result of our long-term dedication and the teamwork we have been able to nurture with the DIBP, and I am very proud of what our people have achieved for our customer and how they feel being part of something bigger: making the world a better place.”

source : https://tinyurl.com/ybnyp4t2