Survey reveals 34 pc travellers find check-in stressful

One may find flying to a long-distance destination saves a lot time but over a one-third of the travellers find check-in and bag-drop before boarding a plane as the most-stressful part of air travel, according to a survey by aviation think-tank Centre for Aviation and IT solution provider SITA.  

Security and border control is stressful for 18.3 per cent while 12.2 per cent find baggage collection the most cumbersome. And only 33 per cent were aware about self check-in facilities at airports for passengers travelling without baggage.

"Airports made the kiosks available in order to achieve higher ratings in airport service quality surveys and are keen to recover the costs. At some airports, kiosk check-in can be more expensive for the airline than a manned counter, and the facility has therefore not been actively encouraged. Kiosk usage as a result is at around 10 per cent at almost all airports where they are provided in India. Bangalore is the best performer at close to 20 per cent," the survey said.

Seventy-five per cent of respondents reported the use of a flight status service via text messages and around 65 per cent said they use real-time flight update tools.
Forty-two per cent of smart phone users had a dedicated mobile app to track the status of their flights. With 82 per cent of Indian travellers carrying a smart phone, the survey suggested the airlines and airports alike should leverage mobile technologies to introduce step changes in customer service and to generate new revenue streams.

The survey noted that the Gen-Next traveller prefers technology over human interface and is more self-reliant but it should be noted that India will see a large numbers of first time travellers entering the market every year which will necessitate that human touch points remain available.

K N Shrivastava, Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, said although the Indian air transport industry has achieved rapid growth, many aspects have remained unchanged.