Emotional management is an increasingly important concept to consider in order to improve the passenger experience, but it is not often seen being administered properly.
It is clear to everyone that, nowadays, practically all passengers travelling through an airport are ‘connected’. Whether through a lightweight laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone, they are sure to have the ability to interact with all the information they can access.
For its part, the airport operator's mission is to ensure that all flight operations comply with established plans while facilitating travellers' arrival at their destination without incident and in the best conditions for each individual case. However, in addition to this, in their relationship with passengers, their tasks include time and information management.
It turns out that time is one of the basic tools of the airport business, and I am not referring, on this occasion, to the time management carried out by airlines to reduce their operating costs. I am referring to every minute that a passenger spends in the terminal, which represents an opportunity for consumption (shopping, catering, services) as well as an indirect expense in terms of space occupancy (cleaning, customer service, maintenance, security). The constant movement of people during their waiting time is usually seen by airport managers as a profit and loss account, where minutes are inevitably associated with income and expenditure.
But habits have changed radically. People's time management has evolved significantly in recent years. The prevailing trend today is individualisation and personalisation in almost every aspect of life. It turns out that the mobile phone has become people's centre of information and entertainment and, therefore, a new protagonist for waiting times.
On the other hand, an adequate administration of information that reaches the passenger is essential for their emotional management. The decisions that people make at a given moment have an important emotional component that can lead them to act in very different ways in the face of the same event. And both when it comes to moving large volumes of people and managing aspects as extreme as emergency plans or the marketing of the different airport areas, this is something that takes on special importance.
Are airports taking advantage of this simple insight to improve their relationship with the people who use their facilities on a daily basis? Are they aware of the enormous possibilities that current technologies offer for providing personalised and, above all, useful information?
It is relatively common to see all kinds of applications and systems being implemented to deliver information to airport users. However, most projects suffer from being based on what the airport thinks is right (the traditional approach?) rather than assessing what 21st-century passengers actually want.
With a fleet of mobile terminals that have local connectivity of all kinds (Bluetooth and wifi essentially) a number of initiatives could be set up to provide the passenger with an individual space for leisure and airport information of interest, with the possibility of personalizing the content in each case. And, in addition, in a geolocated manner.
It's not about creating apps, They are not conditioned by one operating system or another, but by offering content; each device certainly has the tools to access all of it in one way or another.
A passenger waiting for a flight wants to spend as much time as possible until their flight leaves. They want to be able to access a wide range of entertainment (music, movies, games, news, etc.) from their own terminal when the time comes to board, be able to make a reservation at a terminal facility, or have the airport restaurant menu at their fingertips. I repeat: We are talking about content, not tools.
The secret to success in the relationship between travellers and airport managers lies in the ability to create personalised emotional environments in airports that help passengers feel in their own comfort zone. A few years ago, this might have seemed like a pipe dream, but today, with access to all kinds of technology at a reasonable cost, it is something that any manager can achieve. All it takes is imagination and a desire to ensure that everyone who passes through your airport has a positive experience.
There is a second factor that should not be overlooked, which is the resulting ease with which passengers can be provided with a whole series of rules, instructions or advice enabling them to know how to act in the event of any incident. And all this in real time. In line with the arguments put forward above, a passenger who is better informed and more familiar with the specific circumstances of the airport where they are located will also feel safer and much closer to their comfort zone.
Let us never forget that a satisfied passenger is a goal achieved.
Key topics in this post: operations and technology" at airports.
