Travellers’ top concerns in the post-COVID crisis period are focused on simplification and convenience of the journey, according to a new survey by International Air Transport Association. Indeed, IATA adds, travellers today want an online experience like they get from ordering on Amazon.

“Travel during COVID-19 was complex, cumbersome and time consuming due to government-imposed travel requirements. Post-pandemic, passengers want improved convenience throughout their trip,” says IATA exec Nick Careen.

IATA’s 2022 Global Passenger Survey (GPS) provides insight into what passengers would like from their air travel experience based on over 10,000 responses from 222 countries. They include beyond-the-norm options like baggage tracking and home delivery of luggage.

“Today’s travellers expect the same online experience as they get from major retailers like Amazon,” says IATA Sr. VP. Muhammad Albakri. “Airline retailing is driving the response to these needs. It enables airlines to present their full offer to travellers. And that puts the passenger in control of their travel experience with the ability to choose the travel options that they want with convenient payment options.”

Not surprisingly, getting through the airport quickly was the greatest desire of the 10,000 survey respondents from 222 countries, with 50% saying they would be satisfied being there for 30 minutes or less and almost all under an hour.

Among the other takeaways, many of which would help further that goal, include:

Planning and Booking

Passengers want convenience when they plan their travel and when choosing where to depart from. Their preference is to fly from an airport close to home, have all booking options and services available in one single place, pay with their preferred payment method and easily offset their carbon emissions.

• Proximity to the airport was passengers’ main priority when choosing where to fly from (75%). This was more important than ticket price (39%).

• Travellers were satisfied being able to pay with their preferred payment method, which was available for 82% of travellers. Having access to planning and booking information in one single place was identified as being top priority.

• 18% of passengers said that they offset their carbon emissions; the main reason given by those that did not was being unaware of the option (36%).

Travel facilitation

Most travellers are willing to share their immigration information for more convenient processing.

• 37% of travellers said they have been discouraged from traveling to a particular destination because of the immigration requirements. Process complexity was highlighted as the main deterrent by 65% of travellers, 12% cited costs and 8% time.

• Where visas are required, 66% of travellers want to obtain a visa online prior to travel, 20% prefer to go to the consulate or embassy and 14% at the airport.

• 83% of travellers said they would share their immigration information to speed up the airport arrival process. While this is high, it is slightly down from the 88% recorded in 2021.

“Travellers have told us that barriers to travel remain,” observes Careen. “Countries with complex visa procedures are losing the economic benefits that these travellers bring. Where countries have removed visa requirements, tourism and travel economies have thrived. And for countries requiring certain categories of travellers to get visas, taking advantage of traveler willingness to use online processes and share information in advance would be a win-win solution.”

Airport processes

Passengers are willing to take advantage of technology and re-thought processes to improve the convenience of their airport experience and manage their baggage.

• Passengers are willing to complete processing elements off-airport. 44% of travellers identified check-in as their top pick for off-airport processing. Immigration procedures were the second most popular “top-pick” at 32%, followed by baggage. And 93% of passengers are interested in a special program for trusted travelers (background checks) to expedite security screening.

• Passengers are interested in more options for baggage handling. 67% would be interested in home pick-up and delivery and 73% in remote check-in options. 80% of passengers said that would be more likely to check a bag if they could monitor it throughout the journey. And 50% said that they have used or would be interested in using an electronic bag tag.

• Passengers see value in biometric identification. 75% of passengers want to use biometric data instead of passports and boarding passes. Over a third have already experienced using biometric identification in their travels, with an 88% satisfaction rate. But data protection remains a concern for about half of travellers.

“Passengers clearly see technology as key to improving the convenience of airport processes. They want to arrive at the airport ready-to-fly, get through the airport at both ends of their journey more quickly using biometrics and know where their baggage is at all times. The technology exists to support this ideal experience, but we need cooperation across the value chain and with governments to make it happen. And we need to continuously reassure passengers that the data needed to support such an experience will be safely kept,” says Careen.

IATA touts its One ID initiative as a means of powering airport processes with biometrics, noting that the proliferation of e-gates at airports is proving the efficiencies that can be gained.

IATA’s says its priority is to support the One ID standards with regulation to allow its use to create a seamless experience across all parts of the passenger journey.