More than one-third (34%) of air passengers experienced baggage-related delays when checking in, depositing or picking up bags on their most recent flight, according to the findings of a report released by Amadeus this week.
According to the report, commissioned by Amadeus and composed by Norm Rose of Travel Tech Consulting, the three key "passenger pain points" in the airport experience are baggage, delayed or canceled flights, and time delays at check-in and security.
The report suggests that adopting technology can help alleviate some of the problems.
The report found that 18 in every 100 passengers had experienced a delayed or canceled flight during their last travel experience. Ten percent of passengers complained that they had not received "relevant and real-time information."
The findings of the report, "Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow," come from a survey of almost 3,000 passengers, and is available for download at Amadeus.com/AirportOfTomorrow.
The survey found that at 43%, "disruption management" ranked as the single most important area where travelers would like to see improvement.
Just under 40% of travelers said they would "adopt services that delivered real-time information to their mobile devices on flight and baggage status, as well as directions at the airport."
A third of respondents require greater self-service options, including the ability to purchase additional services at airport kiosks and self-tagging options for luggage.
The survey found that problems at the airport translate into negative perceptions of the carriers. If customers are made to wait in line for longer than 30 minutes to check-in, their perception of the airline swings negatively by 10%.
The report suggests that the application of emerging technologies can help solve the challenges of the airport experience, including one-touch check-in and progress tracking; a permanent baggage tag with technology that enables bag tracking through the airport, onto the airplane and off again at the final destination; and roaming agents with tablet computers to provide information to passengers.