Jump in online booking and Web check-in rates at Paris Charles De Gaulle
Online booking and Web check-in are on the rise among passengers using one of Europe's busiest airports, Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), according to a new Passenger Self Service Survey from SITA, the aviation IT specialist.
Online booking was up 20% on the previous year and web check-in almost doubled but the proportion of CDG passengers using online options for other functions such as managing their reservations (86% never tried it) and updating their frequent flyer information (72% never tried it) remains low.
What 77% of CDG passengers interviewed, liked most about online booking is that it makes it easier to compare options, saves time and is easy to use.
On the day of the survey 32.2% used self-service check-in at CDG - little changed from last year - which can be partly explained by the fact that 85.4% of passengers interviewed associated a pleasant trip with friendly ground staff and 33.6% cited preference for the human interface for not using self-service check-in options.
The SITA/Air Transport World PSS takes an in-depth look at the attitudes and habits of a representative sample of the 232 million passengers who use six of the world's busiest airports across five continents: Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta; Mumbai International; Charles de Gaulle, Paris; Moscow Domodedovo; Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil; and OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.
Globally, the survey found that the main reasons for not using self-service check-in options were: bags needed to be checked-in, (29.6%); prefer the human interface, (23.9%); and there was no queue at the check-in desk (15.1%). Bags to check-in was the second reason given at CDG for not using self-service check-in (22%); and almost 60% mistakenly believed they could not use self-service check-in when they had bags to check-in.
A major trend emerging at CDG is the usage rate for web check-in which has risen from 7.5% last year to 12.9% while kiosk check-in has dropped from 24.6% to 18.9% this year. This correlates with the growing numbers of CDG passengers now booking online which has jumped from 52.6% in 2007 to 63.8% this year.
Dominique El Bez, SITA Director, Portfolio Marketing, said: "Online booking will grow further in Paris Charles de Gaulle. Awareness of its availability is almost at 100% and only 0.3% of passengers said it was not available. This is good for the future of self-service check-in as experience tells us that on-line bookers are almost three times more likely to use the self-service check-in option.
"Some 77% of passengers interviewed in Paris reported that what they like most about online booking is that it is easier to compare the various available options. This is higher than the global figure of 66%. Yet despite this increase in online booking, other online options are not used as much. Overall though, the online experience is expected to grow further."
El Bez also noted a significant rise in the percentage of CDG passengers who would prefer to have an electronic copy of their boarding pass which now stands at 29% of passengers surveyed compared to just 3% last year when it was not available.
"Passengers in Charles de Gaulle tend to be sceptical about changes in their travel experience but as long as they can see clear benefits they are happy to embrace new options," he said.
Security screening is the step of their journey that passengers traveling through CDG would like to change the most (36%). No surprise then than 38% of the passengers interviewed in CDG would be ready to give confidential data to speed their way through airport terminals.
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