Why should I share my personal data with an airline ?

by Philippe R.
in Digital Technologies
on 2021-04-06

Let’s face it, we do not like to share data. After a dozen of experience of agressive data marketting, insistant vendors or fishing phone calls, we are really reluctant to expose our data. And, from a security point of view, we are right to do it and the ability to preserve privacy and identity will be a growing challenge for each of us.
But, on the other side, data has enabled so many improvement in our life that I would like in this post to look at it together, focusing on the travel experience.

We will analyze how the personal data of the passenger is used to optimize many aspects of the travel for the various actors.

Let’s start with the route

Let’s imagine that you plan a travel to see your friend in Europe in Madrid.

For this travel, as expressed in the diagram below, there is many possible combinaisons based on your start airport, end airport, and possible intermediate connections.

Each point is a different airport. Each line is a possible part of your travel (also called leg), and will be served by a specific flight between two airports (city pair)

The number of flights and the size of each aircraft assigned to this flight, will determine the total daily capacity of this leg for the airline.
From there, to optimize the public price of this flight, the airline needs to optimize various elements with two main factors : fuel and passenger load

For the airline, the fuel is one of the largest expense representing between 15 and 20 percent of the total expense.

The Passenger load factor (PLF) measure how an aicraft is used by dividing the total number of kilometers flown by passengers, by the revenue passenger kilometers (total number or kilometers for every seat in an aircraft).

Finding the best combinaison of flights, and loads to optimize the PLF is an important strategy for the airline so that it can offer you the best price.
For that, the airline needs to understand what is your real origin and final destination to better serve you.

However, with the multiplication of over the top agency (OTA) like Expedia or Orbitz, this information come fragmented to the airline as they only receive the information of your flight choice after first selection on those OTA’s websites.

You arrive at the airport with your luggage and go to your seat

We rarely travel without any luggage. Carry on luggage or checked luggage, each of them represent a cargo weight.

Each aircraft have a specific maximum allowed weight that limits its operation.

For example, the Boeing 737-800 is an average sized airplane. It has a maximum takeoff weight of about 80,000 kg (175,000 lbs).
This includes the weight of the plane, which is about 41,000 kg (90,000 lbs), and the weight of the fuel which is about 18,000 kg (40,000 lbs).
This leaves about 20,000 kg (45,000 lbs) for passengers, cargo, and crew.

Aircraft are not weighed prior to each flight, but the basic empty weight must be known and checked periodically per regulation.

The example below gives you an idea on how this weight is estimated

Then to maintain the proper balance, the center of gravity must be within the envelope designed for the aircraft. This center of gravity is affected by the location of the passengers in the aircraft. If all the passengers were to sit at the back, the nose would come off the ground too early at take off; if everyone were to sit at the front, the nose would lift too late, or not at all.

Many airlines use computer weight and balance programs. The airplane is divided into zones and the number of passengers in each zone is entered in the program. This allows for the balance of the airplane to be determined.

Knowing in advance information about the load of the aircraft will optimize the operation of the aircraft at the airport, and during the flight.

You are onboard and you get something to drink

It is probably obvious, but the crew can only serve to you what is … onboard.

This means that the airline needs to anticipate the meals and beverages that will be onboarded for the passengers during the flight.

Bad inventory or bad predictions, and the crew will run out of supplies or have unused stock that will have filled the limited storage.

This stock management question happen also at the airport level, and represent a classic supply chain management. The efficiency of its management will affect not only the stock and the cost, but also influence the food waste along the chain, especially for fresh food like prepared meals.

Creating data consumption models, asking for food preferences and special orders are precious data that will help optimize this part of the travel experience

You arrived at the airport

Depending on your reason to arrive at the airport (for final destination or connection), your journey in the airport will be different.

This journey can include activities like luggage reception, transit through custom, food break …

The location of your arrival (gate) and your destination (gate or airport exit) wil have an important influence of the flow inside the airport.

Let’s look at the simple example below

The airport will have to combine several passenger flows

Simple traffic gate to gate for local and international flights
Simple international arrival or departure
Gate / Custom / Luggage / Exit or Exit / Lugagge / Custom / Gate
Simple international/local transit
Gate / Custom / Gate
Complex international/local transit (like US)
Gate / Luggage / Custom / Luggage / Gate

All those flows and their associated size, need to be planned and controlled to avoid traffic jam inside the airport. Of course, passenger local behavior (food, purchase…) will had some additional fluctuations.

To resolve those challenges, the airport need to build passenger behavior models and use the more information that they can collect, to organize the local operation and the best experience.

So, in summary, sharing your needs, origin and destination will improve your global experience at the airport.

The data challenge

Finally, during the short time where the aircraft is at the gate (about one hour), the airline needs to manage a data challenge by finding the right balance between

Your data that needs to be onboarded to provide personalized services by the crew or at the seat
The operational data for execution and synchronization of the flight
The content data (games, ebooks, movies…) that needs to be available during the flight

If the airline can anticipate needs (like favorite movies) or benefits from help like the brand companion application, the data communication can be facilitated and more personalized services can be offered to you onboard.

For need anticipation, the airline will use global trends (like measure of success of movies) but also specific adaptation as your expectations are often different in the specific cabin environment that in your personal house.