Here’s a Technology I’d Like To See (TILTS) thought:
Having to make a tight connection is a source of anxiety for many travelers. When our originating flight is delayed, we’ll spend the entire flight rehearsing scenarios, wondering if our connecting flight was also delayed or what gate we’ll have to sprint to. Many of us teeter back and forth between hope and despair, working our stomach into knots.
With the increased automation available within the travel industry, it’s surprising some kind of app hasn’t been invented on behalf of some airline in order to facilitate a better experience for travelers.
For example, a simple email from my airline, informing me of the gate for my connecting flight or letting me know that the flight I’m so desperate to make has also been delayed would alleviate much of my angst and keep me from pressing my call button to pester the flight attendant for information that he or she can’t seem to procure either.
I’d also like to see some kind of automation that would address incongruent scheduling. When meeting colleagues in other cities, there’s no single-origin application that would enable us to schedule flights from different cities and sync our itineraries.
A final customer service boon and something that could also promote airline loyalty relates to the cost of booking our flights. If I were to book a flight several months in advance for a trip and the average price of that flight was to decrease, wouldn’t it be a great thing if something could monitor the price change and send an email letting me know my credit card had been refunded the difference in price as a way to thank me for my business?
Hey, I can dream!
What are some technological advancements you’d like to see in your travel? Leave us a comment below or on our Facebook page.
Photo credit: Amy Wardlaw (Flickr, Creative Commons)