Talk may be cheap but it can be useful in dealing with flights if you own an Amazon Echo device and fly with United Airlines.
United has become the first US carrier to offer a “skill” using Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition service to allow customers to check in and ask a variety of questions about flights.
Passengers can ask questions about the amenities on board a flight or check on how it’s going by simply asking: “Alexa, ask United what is the status of my flight to San Francisco’’.
Customers whose Mileage Plus frequent flyer accounts are connected to Alexa will be able to check in using the command: “Alexa, ask United to check me in’’.
“Every day we connect nearly 400,000 customers to business meetings, loved ones and new adventures,” said Praveen Sharma, vice president of digital products and analytics at United. “Introducing the new skill to check in and receive flight information with Alexa is an innovation that gives our customers extra time to prep for a business meeting, play with their children or relax as they get ready for their upcoming flight.”
United is not alone in investing in technology with airports and airlines expected to spend almost $US33 billion globally on IT this year.
A report released this week by l technology firm SITA found the top agendas for both airlines and airports were investments in cyber security and cloud services.
This included investments in passenger self-service and the use of mobile devices.
The SITA IT Trends Insights 2017 report found airlines were sharply focused on mobile services, with 73 per cent currently providing check-in by mobile devices, 70 per cent providing boarding and 68 percent status notifications.
This was expected to top 97 per cent by 2020.
A key growth area was real-time flight updates over social media, something currently done by less than a third of airlines but forecast to be adopted by more than 90 per cent in the next three years.
The search is also on for a killer app: 94 per cent of airlines rated streamlining services into a single app as a priority, with more than half saying it was a “high priority”.
“Mobile app capabilities and usability are developing quickly and an increasing number of airlines plan to use mobile as a customer service tool, including at times of disruption,’’ the report said.
Self-service was a buzzword with airports, with almost 90 per cent planning to invest in self-service check-in, bag drop and boarding facilities.
Read: Dubai Airport to introduce new facial recognition technology.
“Airports operators have a keen focus on improving the journey through the terminal and are looking to new technologies such as the Internet of Things, beacons and sensors, to support their goals,’’ the report said. “SITA’s insights show that 80 per cent are investing, or planning to invest, in these technologies over the next three years.”
