Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Arushi Singh

On a recent official trip to Mumbai, my father called me up at an odd hour because he had trouble recalling the make of his new suitcase as there were several other black suitcases on the luggage carousal.

This left me thinking as to why no one has thought about solving for baggage anxiety at the airport? A little bit of head scratching and I could see a viable solution coming out.

What did I learn so far

There is a lot that goes into ensuring that you reunite you with your baggage after the landing. To understand that, I did some reading on luggage tags, airport infrastructure, smart luggage, indoor navigation, reasons for losing baggages, and other common issues faced by the passengers at the airport.

Some of my key learnings include-

Bar codes, RFID Tags, bluetooth beacons and e-ink are most readily available technology that could be installed for baggage scanning.
OthAlthough there are airports like Hong Kong who have adopted RFID tags, it might take longer to standardize them due to high cost and maintenance. Bar codes are still the preferable tech to efficiently manage baggage tracking with minimum investment.
Other alternatives include sensors equipped smart baggages. However, these are very expensive (~ >$400) and often pose security clearance complications due toinbuilt circuitry. Hence, they have a long way to go mainstream in the travel industry.
Indoor navigation is being made more precise with the help of indoor beacons and positioning systems. There is a need to rethink indoor navigation afresh rather than simply borrowing from the experiences that were designed for outdoor navigation. For example, a navigation instruction for next 200 mts. In outdoor GPS allows more response time than a navigation demanding action in the next few feet in indoor navigation.
There is a scope in improving the wayfinding & navigation within the airport. Limitation and high cost of hiring human resources makes a strong case for automation & self help interventions throughout the airport.
Users treat the airport experience as a small yet integral part of their overall trips. Airport centric apps are not very popular as they are relevant for a very small and specific time period for the user.

Candid Conversations

When I discussed the problem with some of the avid travellers & subject matter experts, I came across some interesting anecdotes-

A Sr. Airport Executive staff mentioned, “We take all necessary actions at the airport to reduce the friction in the passenger’s journey without compromising safety. This is why we are experimenting with no-tags in hand baggage in some airports.”

Similarly, a ground staff at private Indian Airlines recalled, “7–8 times in a month there are passengers who pick the wrong baggage. Often these include old passengers, ones with infants or those in a hurry to leave. We conduct random checks to ensure this doesn’t happen too often.”

A frequent traveller revisited her experience as, “I remember this particular incident at SF airport where we were waiting for our luggage, which was falling from a height. There was so much chaos as the baggage belt was choking due to excessive bags. I was worried someone else will take my bag as it was a common black one without any identity marker.”

Another frequent traveller highlighted his pet peeve, “My most annoying moment is waiting for my luggage at the conveyer belt. It often takes longer than I anticipate and I really can’t do anything else other than be vigilant about its arrival. What exacerbates my anger is when others meddle with the luggage and don’t put it back properly.”

An older couple in their first visit to Japan mentioned, “In one of our vacations in Japan, we were waiting at Delhi airport in the waiting lounge and lost track of time. They don’t make any announcements also. Our daughter called us in panic saying that we were missing and they will off load our luggage. Fortunately, we reached just in time.”

FInally another traveller described her biggest struggle upon landing on an international airport, “My biggest challenge after landing at an international airport is that my sim wont work. I have never been able to access airport Wi-Fi. If I’m unable to figure something, I often ask around for help as most places I have visited are English speaking.”

Design Territory

This understanding led me to define the solution space with the personas & their journey from the departure to arrival and the time spent at the airport.

User personas

2. Passenger’s & their baggage’s journey

View in detail-https://www.dropbox.com/s/lan22s2d6rl2nxz/journey%20map.pdf?dl=0

Brainstorming

Using all this knowledge gathered so far I sat down to generate as many ideas as possible.

Final Proposal

An appropriate design solution could be an “Airport card” feature as part of Google Trips. This intends to enhance the experience of travelers inside the airports as part of their trips.

The proposal makes the following assumptions-

The current experience focuses only on the application after passengers have landed at an airport.
Barcode/QR code for the check in baggage is available for the user to scan before baggage drop(feasible due to low cost).
There are three ways in which the application can get the baggage information. First, the user manually scans the barcode in his ticket/boarding pass. Second, the airline updates the information within google trips itself. Third, the airline sends the baggage information in the form of a notification or an email, which is read by the app and updated accordingly.
Airline exposes the baggage status details to the users (usually 5 stages including x-ray scanning, baggage make up area, loading into airplane cargo hold, unloading from airplane cargo hold and loading into baggage carousal.)
There could be an additional 360 degree scanner installed at the entrance of the baggage belt at the arrival area.
Airports have to install indoor beacons for providing accurate navigation and amenities details to the passengers so that they don’t have to rely on ground staff.
Airports also need to install self check-out counters for passengers to avoid accidental or intentional mixing of luggage at the baggage carousel.
Have a way to identify the bar code on ticket against the one attached on baggage. This will be useful for verification when checking out of airport from the arrival area.

Highlights

Maximum ROI for airlines with minimum investment. Baggage data is already available with the airlines, which they simply need to expose to the passengers on demand. It reduces baggage related anxiety and the expenditures on lost or missing baggages.
Airports can partner with third parties to improve the experience of passengers at airport. For example, to install barcode scanner at the checkout gates.
Google trips gets richer data for their application and improves the time spent at the airport for the user. Crowd sourced generation of data for prediction analysis will help generate baggage related data which can help further improve technology at the airport.
It is low cost on Airports and airlines and easily scalable without passengers having to buy advanced baggage.
This intervention could benefit multiple stakeholders — passengers, airlines and airports.
This design scales well and is cost effective to be a part of air travel and safety regulations.

Key Stakeholders

Overall Flow of the app (After the passenger lands at the Airport)

High Fidelity Mock ups

Scenario: User arrives at SFO and wants to find their checked in luggage

Users creates a trip to San Francisco in Google Trips.
There is an Airport Card which caters to all of the user’s needs while they are at the airport
As soon as the user lands at the airport he is given a notification with the top actions (internet details at the airport, baggage belts & cab booking) he can take.

4. Use can see the airport’s wifi details and quickly login to stay connected.

5. They can also rely on the AR based indoor navigation to reach desired locations at the airport.

6. AR navigation come in handy and saves time as the user can immediately see the way instead making sense of a 2D map. Navigation and notifications through a smart watch will also come in useful in busy airports or if the user is occupied when his baggage arrives

7,8. The user is provided with the baggage Belt & Baggage details.

Use of Notifications to give a Heads-up to the user about important information and updates.

9. He is also given a heads up on the arriving baggage.. Just as the baggage is about to arrive, prompt the user to book a cab.

10. He is also given a heads up on the arriving baggage.

11. User gets notified if the baggage belt is changed at the last minute.

12. To ensure that the baggages leave the airport with the intended passenger without choking the arrival area we create an easy mechanism to match the baggage with the passenger. The user is asked to verify if all his baggage are correct by simply scanning the bar code/ QR code from the mode OR at the airport kiosk.

13. The user is guided to scan the baggage tags using his mobile app. This can also be done using a kiosk at the exit.

14. If the bar codes of the baggage match the ones on the boarding pass, a QR code is generated which acts like a checkout key at the exit gates. If the user scans an incorrect baggage, the airlines as well as the baggage owner are informed about the mix up.

15. After collecting the bag, the user can book a cab to their next destination.

16. We can crowd source the information required to further improve the baggage arrival prediction algorithm.

Check this out the prototype here.

Suggestions are always welcome 🙂

Can mobile technology improve baggage collection experience at airports? was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Can mobile technology improve baggage collection experience at airports?

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