Airline Check-In Goes Cellular
Client: Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS)
Challenge: Determine how to limit the number of lines passengers must wait in at the airport and reduce costs for airlines in the process.
Solution: Mobile Self Service Airline Check-In is an automated service that calls travelers' cell phones prior to their flight and allows them to confirm seat reservations before arriving at the airport.
Results: Since January 2004, the number of Self Service subscribers has increased approximately 10 percent per month, resulting in roughly 23,500 offerings per month. These passengers account for close to 8 percent of all possible check-ins for SAS.
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When it comes to air travel, waiting in line is a given. From a traveler's arrival at the terminal and check-in to security screenings and passenger boarding — the hurry-up-and-wait routine is practically unavoidable. But what if there was a way to eliminate a line?
That's what a group of software developers from CSC asked themselves more than two years ago. They developed Mobile Self Service Airline Check-In, an innovative program that reduces waiting for passengers and costs for airlines by offering a simple solution — a phone call.
While there's nothing simple about the integration of SMS messaging and speech technology to simplify passenger check-in, the idea was born from the fact that thousands of travelers routinely take to the skies each day with cell phones in tow.
CSC partnered with Scandinavian Airlines Group (SAS), the fourth largest airline in Europe, and determined the best way to increase customer access to Mobile Self Service would be to call them.
Two parts check-in
After registering and providing their cell phone numbers on the airline's booking site, customers receive a notification on their cell phone that the flight is open for voice check-in about 22 hours before departure. Information is then replicated through a Web service, called FlightEvent, to SAS's subscription database.
The bookings are then gathered in the airline's inventory system, which continuously feeds FlightEvent from the airline's databases. Next, a module called CheckInNotification looks for subscribing passengers and sends a text message containing information on their flight.
The message is sent in one of four languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or English) based on the country code of the telephone number provided. If the caller phones from a different telephone, land line or has a hidden number, he or she will be asked to say the mobile number and the system will retrieve the booking for further processing.
Once the customer calls from the phone the message was delivered to, his or her telephone number is retrieved. The number is used to find the message the airline sent and alerts it to the booking for which the customer is checking in. The booking information along with the name is then sent to the check-in system for processing.
The speech dialog will ask if the customer wants to check-in on the flight and if an aisle or window seat is preferred. The passenger will receive the best possible seat according to his or her preferences/booking class. At the end of the dialog the passenger will receive another message with seat information as a confirmation of the check-in.
"This kind of merging with SMS and voice recognition is as far as I know the first time anybody has done this," says Carl Ullman, a CSC software engineer who helped develop Mobile Self Service. "We're pleased with it, because it was fun to help our customers lower their costs and the lines at check-in and also for us to try something new."
The power of convenience
Since Mobile Self Service launched in January 2004, the number of subscribing passengers has increased by approximately 10 percent per month, which results in roughly 23,500 offerings per month. These passengers account for close to 8 percent of all possible check-ins according to SAS business rules for this type of service.
"We targeted phase one of the service at a selected customer group — those with membership in our frequent flyer program Eurobonus or those who travel ticketless on Travel Pass or Travel Pass Corporate," explains Helena Tranaeus-Bonnedahl, SAS self-service product manager. "Once they use the service, they continue to use it again and again. We have increased end-user satisfaction by offering voice check-in. And of course, infrastructure investment was minimized because customers already have the main piece of technology — their mobile phones."
Mattias Lindberg, an IT consultant at Microsoft, and frequent SAS flyer, says the new service is extremely user friendly. "Voice check-in gives me the possibility to arrive late at the airport," he says. "I feel secure because I know that SAS is aware of my intention, that is, to travel with the specific flight."
The future of Self Service
SAS is looking to the next steps with voice check-in, including extending the target customer group and enhancing existing SMS and voice-recognition services. CSC will continue to play a key role in fine-tuning and enhancing mobile self-services as it expands.
Possible areas where the solution can be extended include booking, mobile payment, waiting list confirmation, lost luggage handling and delivery, privileged hot lines and even dispatching employee work orders. The flexibility of the technology also makes it suitable for self-service offerings in other industries.
The key benefits of automated customer alerts, speech applications and caller identification could make secure, automated self-service a reality in a host of service areas, from the entertainment and hotel sectors to healthcare and advertising.
Mobile Self Service Airline Check-In received a 2005 Award for Technical Excellence, CSC's top honor for innovation, sponsored by the Leading Edge Forum, which provides technology thought leadership for CSC.