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Reducing Airport Travel Stress With IoT

Airports Can Leverage IoT Technology To Make Air Travel Less Of An Ordeal

For a lot of people, flying can be a stressful ordeal. Everything from lost luggage, getting lost, to subpar food can all add to a flyer’s anxiety. The experience associated with flying has gotten so bad that some people opt to avoid flying altogether. Despite people choosing not to fly, airports are now busier than ever which only adds to a traveler’s stress levels. However, flying does not have to be a stressful ordeal. The Internet of Things technology can relieve a flyer’s stress and anxiety by making the airport experience more smooth. Airports can leverage IoT for transport to make airport navigation easier, reduce anxiety related to checked baggage, and enable smart retail operations.

Airport Navigation: Imagine a traveler who has 5 minutes to make a flight that is about to depart. If the traveler walks quickly, he will make it. However, there is a problem, he has no idea where the gate is and he has a hard time finding his gate on overhead signs and airport map kiosks. Although mapping services that provide directions already exist, they are typically not as accurate and many do not have building layouts mapped. In an instance like this, airport management can help a traveler by implanting Internet of Things (IoT) technology to help guide him. Airports can integrate internet-connected beacons or sensors around the terminal to ping a traveler’s mobile phone. These beacons combined with Wi-Fi triangulation can help determine a traveler’s exact location in the airport. A traveler’s exact location combined with an application that contains a map of the airport on the traveler’s mobile phone can help guide the traveler to the location of their gate.

Tracking Checked Luggage: Lost luggage can ruin a vacation or a business trip. Consequently, checking in luggage on a flight can cause a great deal of anxiety for a traveler. Fortunately, the Internet of Things (IoT) technology can help reduce the stress related to checked luggage. Internet-connected sensors can be attached to checked luggage and passengers can then monitor the location of their checked bag through their mobile phone as the bag makes its way along the airport conveyor belts and onto the plan or onto the luggage claim carousel. Remote asset monitoring via IoT technology is already in use by many entities such as banks to protect assets remotely so why not use it to monitor checked luggage?

Smart Retail Operations: Many passengers opt to buy food and beverages on the ground before they board the airplane as many airlines no longer provide complimentary meals to passengers. Unfortunately, this can lead to long queues at concession stands and eateries at the airport. Although online meal pre-ordering does exist; typically, the person making the order can only select the approximate time they want the order ready. Due to delays or expeditions, the time the traveler select may not necessarily be the time the traveler arrives to pick up the order. Airport concessions and eateries can help reduce a flyer’s frustration with long queues by implementing Internet of Things (IoT) technology that will enable travelers to order meals and have them ready at the exact moment the traveler arrives to pick up the meal. Using IoT technology, travelers can place an order ahead of time. The eatery can then track the person who made the order via their mobile phone. As soon as the person nears the eatery, the staff can then start preparing the food ahead of time so that as soon as the traveler reaches the eatery, their order is ready. Eateries can even go a step further and deliver the order straight to the traveler in the departure lounge using the traveler’s mobile phone as a sort of “beacon”.

Conclusion: Internet of Things (IoT) technology can definitely reduce a flyer’s stress and anxiety steaming from airport navigation and checked baggage while making it easier for travelers to order food as they make their way through the airport. As airports continue to strain from the sheer amount of people passing through, airports will have to eventually upgrade their infrastructure. One of the most important infrastructure upgrades airports can embrace includes IoT technology as it will reduce a traveler’s stress levels significantly. As IoT in aviation improves the travel experience will improve with it.