AIRL

INEs

2017
What’s next?

MOBIL E TRAVE L TREND S

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ABOUT TRAVELPORT DIGITAL

Travelport Digital delivers innovative mobile
2. MOBILE TRAVEL TRENDS FOR 2017 travel solutions for airlines, TMCs and travel
(a) Apps moving beyond the homescreen
agencies to improve the end-to-end travel
experience and to increase the value of
(b) Driving loyalty through personalisation every interaction with every customer via
sophisticated apps and mobile services across
(c) The connected travel experience – joining the dots throughout the journey!
smartphones, tablets and wearables. In
(d) A new breed of travel assistant - if you don’t ask, you don’t get!
addition to industry leading travel apps, we
provide advanced mobile services including
(e) UX as a strategic differentiator real-time mobile messaging, day of travel
solutions and ancillary upsell opportunities.
(f) The rise of bots

3. CLOSING SUMMARY digital.travelport.com

Intro
What’s next for mobile travel? What will your passengers expect from airline mobile services
next year? What are the dominant trends that will shape the mobile travel landscape in 2017 3.6
and beyond? BILLION
mobiles accessing
the internet in

It’s hard to believe that next year, 2017 will see the 10th
anniversary of the iPhone. What a difference a decade
makes! We now live in a mobile culture that didn’t exist
10 years ago with mobile now at the center of how we
communicate and interact with each other.
In travel, this new mobile landscape has created a huge
array of new opportunities for airlines to support, engage
and empower their customers via sophisticated apps and
mobile services. In fact it’s hard to imagine now that we
ever travelled without a smartphone, tablet and for some,
a smart watch.
As we head towards 2017, it is vital that airlines understand 2016**
the pivotal role that mobile plays now and will continue to
play in delivering a sophisticated digital experience for a 268
new generation of travellers who are increasingly ‘mobile MILLION
first’. For our Mobile Travel Trends Report 2017, Travelport mobiles accessing
the internet in
Digital conducted a survey with airlines worldwide to
get valuable insights from senior professionals across 2007
the industry on the importance of mobile to their digital
strategy in 2017.
Throughout this report we’ll share the opinions of travel
experts within Travelport Digital as well as highlighting key
insights from our Mobile Travel Trends Survey. So lets take a
look at the trends that the industry think will impact mobile
travel in 2017 and beyond.

36% 95%
95%
of airlines intend to invest
of airlines currently feel of airlines believe having
they are not investing a mobile strategy is ‘very
more in mobile in 2017*
important’ to the success *Travelport Digital Mobile Travel Trends
enough in mobile* of their business* Survey 2016 **Statista, 2016
Apps moving beyond
the homescreen
There are

GLENVILLE MORRIS 23,500

Director of Consulting & Digital Insights at Travelport Digital
APPLE WATCH
In the last 2 years ‘Apps’ have started to evolve into With Apple they want you to use more apps and use apps more.
APPS*
the digital future we’ve all dreamed about, where our Need proof, well a whole new app store was born in iMessage
experiences, our interactions, our communications with plus every walled garden has now got a massive gate allowing
a brand have started to live across multiple touchpoints developers in. Messaging, SIRI, rich notifications have been

“
– apps are no longer just the little icons we carry around opened up to allow us to do exactly that, use apps more and
in our pockets, they are things we wear, things we touch use more apps. Smart move Apple.
(virtually) and even things we talk to in our living rooms. So
my prediction for 2017 is that we’re going to see the biggest
shift of all… apps will no longer be just that icon in our
pocket on a glassy homescreen.

And it’s the the two biggest producers of ‘apps’, Apple &
“Apps are no longer just the little icons we
carry around in our pockets, they are things
we wear, things we touch (virtually), things we
“
message (artificially) and even things we talk to
Google, that will be driving this from that most prized real
in our living rooms.”
estate of old.
OUR TAKE
For Google it’s all about territory and protecting it’s own. You don’t need a crystal ball to predict where all this is
As our gaze has rapidly slipped from desktop to mobile and going for travel in 2017 and beyond – track a flight or send Airlines & TMCs need to
take their digital experience
our searching and consumption of information has shifted to my location using iMessage, “Siri – what’s my flight status?”
to where the user is and
apps, guess what “Google can’t see what we’re looking at”. or “Book an extra bag for my BCN trip with a long press on that’s not just in app folders
‘App Indexing’, ‘Instant Apps’ and ‘In App Search’ are all just the homescreen.” The reports of ‘the death of apps’ have anymore, they need to start
ways for Google to hold you in search for as long as possible. been greatly exaggerated. In 2017, we’ll just be using them thinking outside the
icon ‘box’.
differently.

*Watchaware, 2016
Driving loyalty through 58%
of airlines feel their ability to

personalisation deliver personalised interactions

to travellers as very important
to the success of their mobile
strategy*

STEVEN RATCLIFFE
VP of Product at Travelport Digital

Considering the volume of digital distractions that we face, This will not only help travellers navigate time consuming
you can understand why it’s becoming increasingly difficult tasks but also create a highly personalised, contextual

“
for airlines to maintain any type of meaningful loyalty. For digital travel experience.
Personalised
that reason, I believe an existing BUT growing trend into
experience is cited as
2017 (and beyond) will be a continued focus on mastering
personalisation via mobile as a more natural means of
driving customer loyalty.

Smart travel brands will continue to look at how mobile

“
“It’s about enabling personalised
experiences across multiple touch
points and multiple devices that
travellers engage with.“
important to heavy
mobile users and young
travellers
(30% of Millennials;
can help bridge the gap between generic experiences 34% of Gen X)**
and ones where the end-traveller feels truly engaged and
supported by their airline. The immediacy and personal While mobile is fast becoming one of the main channels
nature of a mobile experience with an airline is central to through which travel is researched, consumed, managed and
making this happen. By leveraging the knowledge they have experienced - it is no longer just a ‘mobile only’ story - it’s
on a customer and the one-to-one connection of a mobile about enabling personalised experiences across the multiple
OUR TAKE
device, airlines can really make a difference to improve the touch points and the multiple devices that travellers engage Delivering relevant and
travel experience. Using mobile features such as live agent with. This is a chance for airlines to know their customer, personal interactions
chat, predictive analytics, in-app feedback, proximity based keep them engaged, build a competitive advantage based via mobile will become
increasingly important for
messaging, Apple Pay, credit card scanning and touch ID on the knowledge they have about their customer and be airlines to earn the trust of
(and other mobile first features as they arise). with them at every step of their journey. their customers and help build
a true one-to-one connection
that can ultimately
win their loyalty
*Travelport Digital Mobile Travel Trends Survey 2016 over the long term.
**CMO, 2016
The connected travel experience 85%
of travellers have

joining the dots throughout the journey! some kind of mobile

device with them
while travelling*

ANDY GEORGE
APAC Regional Director at Travelport Digital

The ‘day of travel’ can be frustrating even for frequent

travellers. Fears about getting to the airport on time,
lengthy security queues, uncertainties about flight take-off
times, gate locations in unknown airports, lost baggage…
are all common pain points. However, as travellers become
increasingly connected, the mobile channel opens up
“
“Moving forward it will be imperative for

“
airlines to ensure they provide the right
combination of features to address the needs
of their travellers within their mobile and
digital offering.”
94%
of airlines believe a seamless
connected travel experience
will be either ‘important’ or
‘very important’ to the success
of their mobile strategy**
new opportunities for airlines to reduce confusion and
take customer service to another level by offering a more Mobile is primed for airlines to offer a more seamless travel
seamless, connected end-to-end travel experience with a experience by ‘joining the dots’ of what can be a disjointed
contextual, ‘day of travel’ guidance via their mobile apps. experience with mobile support at every stage, including
mobile booking and check-in, card scanning, real-time flight
To offer a fully connected travel experience requires airlines alerts, check-in prompts, personalised itinerary updates,
to have an understanding of all touchpoints across the airport navigation, gate location & directions, baggage
journey including pre, during and post trip activity, customer information, IFE navigation via mobile, flight connection
feedback, social inputs and how customer data can be used details, destination information and more. By providing a OUR TAKE
to personalize the experience. Mobile will play a central role mobile offering that keeps the airline relevant and at the Providing a connected end-
in shaping the ‘day of travel’ experience enabling airlines centre of the experience throughout the end-to-end journey to-end travel experience via
to take customer service to another level by proactively will help create an intimate connection with the traveller that mobile provides airlines with
an opportunity to amplify
providing travellers with an end-to-end mobile experience airlines can leverage to drive increased revenues, improve the
their core value proposition
from research and booking right through to reaching their customer experience and ultimately drive loyalty. by creating a more personal
final destination. connection with the end-
traveller and supporting
them throughout their
* Frederic Gonzalo, 2016 journey.
**Travelport Digital Mobile Travel Trends Survey 2016
A new breed of travel assistant
if you don’t ask, you don’t get!
NEIL LAIDLER
Regional Director EMEA at Travelport Digital

Over the next 1 to 3 years, I believe the old worlds of push

and pull interactions will come together as one and we’ll
witness a dramatic change in the way that we communicate
and interact with digital devices (and brands on those
devices). As the saying goes “If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t
Get”. When we want something in life, we normally have
“
“Imagine being able to use whichever
communication method you wish (speaking out
loud or typing a one-line message) to retrieve,
rebook or cancel a trip, without worrying

“
about the format, grammar or style (or accent)
to request it (the “pull”). When doing this digitally in travel you are using, with the intelligent travel By the end of 2017,
today, we have to ‘ask / pull’ through processes of having to
assistant being able to read sentiment and act room-based screenless
find menu options followed by entering scripted and tightly- devices to be in more
accordingly.”
defined paths based on what we want (e.g. “enter online than 10 million homes*
check-in”), and then we move through the traditional pain
of data entry around forms and fields. While we have seen We’re seeing the start of this today, with Amazon Echo /
some recent reducers of friction in this space (e.g. passport Alexa, Google Home and Siri and messaging bots in semantic
and credit scanning), we are still living in a world of flows, text input but these are just the beginning. What about the
OUR TAKE
forms, fields and “next” and “back” buttons in order to “push” interactions I mentioned? The phrase “If You Don’t
‘ask / pull’. Ask, You Don’t Get” could be made obsolete in the world Travellers will expect
of travel interactions, you may not need to ask at all as we better communication and
interaction with digital
When we communicate with friends and family, we don’t are looking at a very near future of proactively “pushing”
devices. If we look to 2017
fill in forms or follow defined paths, we provide enough interactions to travellers. Imagine providing a digital travel and beyond we expect to
information we deem to be pertinent and expect our assistant that knows the location, trip context, trip history, see a rise in intelligent travel
audience to fill in the gaps through context, relationship agenda and profile of the traveller, as well as behavioural assistants that provide
travellers with what
and intelligence. Very soon we are going to see that same analytics collected across the globe from travellers ‘like you’.
they need before they
humanist dynamic enter into our digital interactions with realise they need it.
travel brands. *Forbes, 2016
UX as a strategic
differentiator
MATTHEW OVINGTON
Director of User Experience at Travelport Digital

The vast majority of Fortune 500 CEOs see user experience Mapping out the customer journey and understanding the 63%
(UX) as a competitive differentiator. Most travel industry experiential touchpoints - what happens, where it happens

CEOs would not disagree. Creating a competitive advantage
around UX requires a UX strategy that relates to the unique
brand and market position of your airline.
At Travelport Digital we believe that the mobile user
experience is a key opportunity to enhance the end-
traveller experience. It is essential to follow a customer-
centred process to define and build the best user
experience possible. This means combining a user-centred
design approach with an emphasis on craftsmanship and
interaction design because great usability is central to
the success of all apps and digital experiences. In order to
form a UX strategy airlines need to understand the biggest
opportunities or gaps in the user experience. The differential
between the traveller’s expectation and reality over his or
her journey determines the experience.
“
and whether it matches expectations - are the first steps. of airlines strongly
believe their ability to
“One of the simplest ways to improve UX is to deliver an improved
prevent bad experiences, or do a great job of
recovering when they happen. Understanding
where they happen, and why, is the starting
point for fixing them.“
“ user experience is
very important to the
success of their mobile
strategy*
This understanding also helps airlines to identify new
opportunities to meet unmet needs. Customer insights
fuel innovation. Only when airlines understand the variation
OUR TAKE
in user experience can they assign resources to maximise In order to successfully
impact and ROI. For too many organisations UX is still fuzzy differentiate via mobile, airlines
need a clear UX strategy. A deep
and hard to quantify. A granular understanding of the understanding of the various
opportunities to meet and exceed expectations is the first experiential touchpoints for
travellers is essential. Only once
step in forming a strategy to exceed expectations.
this is understood, can airlines
create a mobile offering

63%
of airlines have highlighted UX that affectively
& design as a key investment addresses the needs
area in 2017* of the traveller.

*Travelport Digital Mobile Travel Trends Survey 2016

The rise of bots
BRENDAN BOURKE
Digital Consultant at Travelport Digital
If you’re working in the travel industry and reading this then
I don’t need to tell you that bots and AI are hot topics. This
area is vast, from a large and growing start-up and tech
supplier scene to platform plays from the likes of Facebook
and Skype, barely a day passes without reference to the
effect this trend will have on the travel industry. But let’s
boil this down to the three areas where bots and AI are
currently impacting the industry and take a look at how this
may evolve in 2017.
EXPANDING REACH: Bots have allowed travel brands to
grow their reach and talk to current and new customers
via third party channels such as Facebook Messenger.
Functionality such as search and travel updates are not
necessarily new, but both the channel and the environment
are different and bots enable brands to speak with users in
places where they already live and feel at home.
REDUCING COSTS: At the moment the use of bots for
automated responses and customer service may be
relatively limited but anywhere that automation can be used
to reduce costs is welcome in the industry, whether that be
for airlines or TMCs.
SOLVING PROBLEMS AND CREATING OPPORTUNITIES:
Bots and AI are starting to chip away at travel problems.
From last minute requests for a boarding pass via Facebook
Messenger through to automating disruption alerts, bots
are beginning to have a top-level impact on some of the
Over
industry’s issues. But opportunities are also starting to 2.5 billion
be uncovered with progress being made in harnessing AI
to improve recommender systems for ancillary sales and people have
providing personalised destination suggestions based on
at least one
“
individual and aggregate historical travel preferences.
messaging app
“Bots need to understand context and history installed*
and ultimately need to act as collaborators
on more multi-layered and complex travel
challenges, rather than simply responding to
basic commands.“
“ OUR TAKE
Bots and AI will become more
firmly established within the
travel industry in 2017. Success
There’s no doubt that 2016 saw significant progress being will only be achieved with
a strategic approach based
made, but much of it is scratching the surface and is
around channel integration
fragmented in nature. So where do bots and AI need to go to and a deep understanding
make a bigger impact in 2017? To date bots and AI have been of the traveller.
great at acting as a basic assistant using scripted responses.
*Economist 2016
Closing Summary
Key soundbytes from the Travelport Digital Mobile Travel Trends Survey

In our Mobile Travel Trends Survey results, it is clear that
airlines believe a sophisticated mobile strategy is a key
factor in achieving their overall business objectives. There
is no doubt that airlines should continue to embrace the
transformational power of mobile in 2017 and beyond.
We have highlighted below some of the biggest challenges
airline professionals believe mobile will help them address
in 2017 (see chart below) as revealed in our Mobile Trends
Survey.
While every airline is at a different stage of their mobile
evolution, at Travelport Digital we believe airlines need
to become more mobile-centric in their approach. As the
demands of today’s ultra-connected traveller evolve and
increase, airlines have an opportunity to leverage mobile
technology even more to enhance the end-to-end travel
experience, make their journey more seamless and ensure
they stay connected to the traveller throughout their
journey.

TRAVELLER ENGAGEMENT 21% Travelport Digital Mobile

Travel Trends Survey 2016:
MORE DIRECT SALES 21% What is the biggest
challenge you feel
LOYALTY 21%
mobile could help your
DISRUPTION / IROPs 16% airline address in 2017?
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION 11%
ANCILLARY UPSELL 21.05%
5%
Which areas of mobile development does your airline intend to invest in? Which of the following statements
best describes your airline’s level of
investment in mobile strategy?
MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE AND DESIGN 63%
PERSONALISATION 58%
DAY OF TRAVEL COMMUNICATIONS 47%
We are We are
RESPONSIVE WEB 37%
investing investing
CHATBOTS / BOTS 32% a lot as enough to We are
mobile is keep up investing
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 32% a big focus with the but not
TABLETS 26% for us competition enough

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / TRAVEL ASSISTANTS 16%

32% 32% 32%

Is having a mobile strategy for your Do you intend to increase your
airline important? investment in mobile in 2017?

95 %

95
% YES

very important We are not

investing in
mobile at all

5% NO
4%
 Survey Methodology
In November 2016, Travelport Digital
conducted an online survey to a selection
of airline executives across the globe. With
over 25 airline respondents our survey
findings provide key insights into how airline
executives view mobile as we
move into 2017.

Learn More About The 2017 Mobile Travel Trends

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References: Source: Statista, 2016 Number of mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide since 2007. Source: PR Newswire, 2016 Travellers prefer their device more than their loved one. Source: Watchaware,
2016 Forecast of number of Apple watch devices. Source: Criteo Travel Flash Report, 2016 Source: Travelport Digital Mobile Travel Trends Survey, 2016. Source: CMO, 2016 15 mind blowing stats about how mobile
is reshaping travel. Source: Frederic Gonzalo, 2016 16 stats about mobile in travel. Source: Forbes, 2016 Top 10 strategic predictions for 2017 and beyond. Source: Economist, 2016 Market apps maturing.