Chris Knight
For many people, air travel can be a nightmare with so much to get wrong, or that can go wrong. But technology is helping the confused or clumsy, those with poor organisational skills or who are scared of travel get over their worries and make flying easier. Check out these videos to see how augmented reality, social media and chatbots can all help.
1 Become friends with your airline
Airlines love to keep in touch with passengers online, saving the trouble of talking on the phone or filling in complex help forms. Social media and chatbots are the leading ways of interaction so you can find out the latest flight news, times, delays and even book tickets.
Chatbots are the fastest growing form of interaction with one in five airlines using them, and the number is growing fast. See how they can help make your customer service more personal and easier to use.
2 AR can help families navigate the airport
Getting lost in an airport is a perennial worry, especially when abroad. Augmented reality is helping out with personal guides to take you from the car park to the check-in and the to the right gate or vice versa.
On the other side of the fence, airport workers are using smartglasses and AR to speed up loading of planes and for maintenance tasks. All helping the overall airport experience go smoother.
3 Overcome fear of airports and flying with VR
Fear of open spaces, crowds and flying itself are all major phobias that can blight a holiday or trip. There are various solutions, but one of the modern and most effective ways is to use virtual reality to experience the places and events at airports to become less sensitive to them.
Overcoming that fear before you even get to the airport can help people relax and enjoy the experience, with all these strands of technology coming together to make people more comfortable.
4 Know the security wait times
Chatbots, as we’ve already seen, are helping in all aspects of travel, with airports, airlines and ticket operators all using them to make providing their services easier. Even when it comes to knowing how long the wait at the security desk is, you can find that out via a range of sources including Facebook Messenger bots.
Chatbots are easy to build for your own business use in any area, using services like SnatchBot that provide a cloud platform, publish-anywhere model and templates to get you started. They can help in customer support, ordering and sales and many other areas.
5 Watch flights in progress
If you’re waiting for a loved one or an important client to land, you can track actual flights in motion through FlightTracker24. This popular website or mobile app shows what’s coming and going from your local airport or area. You can watch your family safely across oceans and see just how impressive the whole aviation industry and how smoothly it operates.
