FlightView Survey: Airlines Missing Substantial Opportunity to Sell Ancillary Services to Business Travelers
By: Robert Diamond Aug. 05, 2013
According to FlightView's survey, more than half of all business travelers would consider purchasing in-flight amenities and services if offers were pushed to their mobile devices before they boarded the plane. Specifically, business travelers would consider mobile, day-of-travel purchases of:
- In-flight WiFi 65.3%
- Seat with extra legroom 55.4%
- Business- or first-class ticket upgrade 50.2%
- Early boarding privileges 43.0%
However, in the last 12 months, only 45 percent of business travelers have actually purchased a seat upgrade or add-on (such as in-flight WiFi) using an airline's mobile website or app.
"There is major opportunity to increase revenue and improve the travel experience by pushing relevant services via mobile," said Mike Benjamin, CEO of FlightView. "Our research shows that business travelers tend to purchase extras on an as-needed, opportunistic basis, which makes deciding how and when to present ancillary service offers a complex challenge for airlines."
Adoption of Mobile Search and Booking Accelerates
Beyond day-of-travel purchases, business travelers are also leveraging mobile devices to search for and book travel-related services. Of the 75 percent of respondents that reported owning a tablet:
- 69.5% use their tablet to search for flights
- 55.7% leverage their tablet to check hotel options
- 35.8% search for ground transportation
Mobile search, however, doesn't always translate to mobile purchases. Only 61.8 percent of business travelers have actually booked a ticket using their tablet, and even less (52.9%) have purchased tickets on a smart phone.
"Mobile adoption has taken a strong hold amongst the travel-savvy, and now airlines must focus on converting mobile usage to mobile purchases," said Benjamin. "The key is simplifying the purchasing process and making it more relevant and timely for business travelers, and that can only be accomplished by putting forth a reliable, highly-functional offering."
While airlines have made great strides to improve the overall usability and functionality of their apps, almost half of all business travelers (48.3) are still underwhelmed. Of that group:
- 43.3% are most dissatisfied with the usability
- 28.9% want more advanced functionality, like itinerary sharing, mobile boarding, etc.
- 27.8% are frustrated with inaccurate or slow flight information
As a result, only 42 percent of business travelers routinely use their preferred airline's app while traveling, and almost 17 percent never use it.
For more of FlightView's survey findings and additional industry insights, visit FlightViewFromtheSky.com.
FlightView's survey includes responses from 902 travelers. The survey was pushed to users of FlightView's Android and iPhone flight-tracking app, and launched and completed in March 2013.
About Flightview
FlightView is the leading provider of accurate, real-time flight information solutions for the aviation and travel industries. FlightView was started in 2008 when CEO Mike Benjamin brought a new management and technology team to RLM Software, the first recipient of the ASDI (FAA radar) data feed and long-time consultant to the FAA. With a new focus on delivering actionable flight information across the full range of media platforms, FlightView was born. Since then, FlightView's customer list has grown to include over 130 Airports, several major and mid-sized airlines and other travel related customers who employ FlightView information in digital displays, Web and mobile sites, native apps, and other uses. FlightView mobile products were launched starting in 2009 and our native apps for the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry platforms have logged over 2M downloads. FlightView is located in Newton, Massachusetts. To learn more, please visit FlightView.com.
SOURCE: BUSINESS WIRE
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