Fancy a peek into what travellers really think of airlines and airports? Well today’s your lucky day.
All Nippon Airlines (ANA) has revealed the findings of , featuring data from 1000 flying customers.
It’s part of an ANA initiative that sees it partner up with XPRIZE to advance technology to the point of creating avatars to actually let our consciousness be transported worldwide. Creepy, yes. But interesting, absolutely.
So to prepare for this launch, ANA surveyed 1000 Americans aged 18 and up on how avatars and other technologies impact their travel decisions.
A total of 58 per cent of travellers reckon technology and innovation of a plane/airline is the most important consideration when booking international leisure travel.
Interestingly, though, only 38 per cent of travellers consider themselves ‘very satisfied’ with current airplane and airport technology.
When questioned specifically about avatar technology, those who travel at least once a month said they were more likely to purchase a ticket if they could experience the destination first via avatar.
Other key findings from the survey included:
- 68 per cent of travellers are willing to pay for better in-flight technology
- 84 per cent of people would like to see high-speed internet become more widespread on airplanes
- 90 per cent of Millennials (aged 18-34) would choose an airline if it offered business amenities such as meeting rooms, video conferencing and high-speed internet
- Those who travel multiple times per month are twice as likely to be familiar with avatars as those who travel every few months (88 per cent vs. 44 per cent)
“Since we constantly interact with our passengers, it was very interesting for us to see the results of this travel survey related to their future air travel preferences,” said Hideki Kunugi, Senior Vice President of ANA, The Americas.
“ANA is always looking for ways to improve the customer experience, and we look forward to taking these results and using them for future ANA initiatives.”
Earlier this year, ANA and XPRIZE began their partnership with the announcement of “Seat 14C”, a digital anthology that blends original science fiction stories with a short story writing competition.
Participants were asked to imagine what stepping off an ANA flight in the year 2037 could look like.
It’s the first initiative of XPRIZE’s recently announced Science Fiction Advisory Council, and also includes pieces by such high-profile authors as Margaret Atwood and Paolo Bacigalupi.
The winner of the competition will be announced later this month.
