Fast-Forward to the Future of Airline Travel with Virtual Queuing Systems

If you’ve ever traveled by plane, you know that every airport is different—and every airline has different processes for checking in, checking a bag, boarding, and so on. Even if you’re a frequent flyer, your airport journey can be hard to predict, making first-time travelers especially susceptible to communication issues and misunderstandings.

So how can airports and similar transportation agencies make this process smoother? As long-distance travel returns to pre-pandemic levels of popularity, travel organizations are in dire need of more efficient operations for moving passengers through quickly and safely. And although safety is certainly the top priority at airports, ensuring a positive customer experience relies on numerous other considerations as well.

Why Efficient Airport Passenger Flow Is Crucial

Naturally, passenger security is crucial for any type of travel, but particularly for air travel. And unfortunately, keeping everyone safe doesn’t necessarily ensure a positive experience. Travelers’ satisfaction with the airport experience is also heavily reliant on:

• Queue lengths and wait time duration
• Availability of and access to specialized services
• Airport staff members’ responsiveness and demeanor
• Service speed and quality
• Selected methods of communication

To optimize each of the above capabilities, airports need an accessible, unified system that can adequately manage all of these priorities to meet passenger needs.

So what’s wrong with just getting in line and waiting? Airports, like numerous other agencies serving the public sector, host incredibly diverse clientele in a fast-paced, unpredictable environment. As a result, travel organizations must meet a range of complex needs on demand, including physical accessibility, language interpretation, identity verification, search checkpoints, and more.

Implementing a Technology-Driven Airport Experience

Transportation agencies serving the public sector are “actively looking for ways to improve ridership” while simultaneously “addressing and dealing with public safety concerns around transit facilities and services.” Implementing modern technology in the form of digital queuing systems could be the multifaceted solution these organizations seek to make travel more enjoyable for everyone.

Digital Queuing Technology: Better for Everyone

A virtual queuing system benefits everyone from visitors to staff members to the leadership team, because it better prepares all parties for a notoriously hectic experience. This easy-to-use technology integrates seamlessly with existing airport and airline processes to ensure:

• Passengers know what to expect when they arrive.
• Staff members can understand and meet their customers’ needs.
• Leadership teams have access to detailed, meaningful data.

Qtrac executive Steve Covate does an excellent job of summarizing what makes this innovative technology so beneficial for transportation authorities, government agencies, and other organizations in the public sector:

Qtrac is easy to use for customers and makes their interactions with [staff] more seamless and convenient. On the back end, the [company] is able to collect valuable data that enables them to improve employee performance, address customer concerns, and ensure that visitors are having an excellent customer experience.
—Steve Covate, Vice President of Sales at Qtrac

Benefits of Digital Queuing Technology for Airports

Virtual queuing improves service quality and delivery for all in-person agencies, including airports, bus terminals, train stations, and essentially any transportation authority. These virtual queuing systems aim to reduce wait times in terminals by expanding the waiting area and using accessible technology to empower the user.

The user-friendly, hardware-agnostic software helps create some significant advantages and opportunities in these settings, such as:

Enhanced Passenger Safety

Virtual queuing systems are set to revolutionize airline security by reducing crowded security lines and still maintaining physical distance, ultimately enhancing passenger safety during travel. The first benefit of virtual queuing technology is the unique ability to lessen passenger wait times while encouraging social distancing efforts and occupancy control.

Streamlined Screening Process

Additionally, these systems enable more efficient and faster security screening processes with features such as pre-registration and self check-in. This optimization ultimately leads to shorter wait times and smoother airport experiences for travelers.

Real-Time Monitoring & Analytics

On the back end, virtual queuing technology provides real-time monitoring and data analytics. Detailed reporting features allow airport authorities to make data-driven decisions, optimize staffing, and improve overall operations throughout the terminal.

Contactless Checkpoints

In the post-pandemic world, contactless solutions within virtual queuing systems are becoming the norm, reducing physical touchpoints and further increasing traveler safety. Another benefit of a virtual queuing system is its potential to facilitate registration processes and communication methods that minimize person-to-person contact.

Maximum Scalability & Adaptability

As air travel evolves, virtual queuing systems are adaptable to new security requirements, limitations, and legislation. Such flexibility makes this technology a key catalyst for the future of airline security by ensuring both safety and convenience regardless of unpredictable industry changes.

Forecasting the Future of Air Travel: Virtual Queuing Trends in the Aviation Industry

As mentioned above, one significant advantage of implementing digital queuing technology for airports is the system’s ability to adapt to the inevitable shifts that occur within this space. Below, we discuss three current airport travel trends and how virtual queuing technology can help industry leaders anticipate their impact on the future of aviation:

Trend No. 1: An Emphasis on Touchless Technology

From automatic doors to contactless appliances, touchless technology is already incredibly common in airports. To continue improving health and safety standards, touchless tech will only become more prevalent. A specialized virtual queuing system can not only “reduce the number of surfaces people touch at the airport, but it also helps stop crowds from gathering, thus helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses.”

Trend No. 2: Aiming for Automation

Depending on where in the world you’re traveling, you may experience automation and the ability to “self-scan” at various points along your journey. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation authorities are having more conversations about the future of queuing, including how to automate processes for security, boarding, baggage check, and more. The revolution has already begun, but automation will soon be everywhere, and digital queuing solutions can facilitate these specialized features in virtually any setting—airports included.

Trend No. 3: Queuing as a Prevalent Challenge

An investigation by the Airport Industry Recovery Advisory Panel (AIRAP) found queuing at the top of the list of shared challenges across airports in North America, especially for the TSA security checkpoint. The best way to manage unruly queues is to eliminate the wait wherever possible, which can be achieved by introducing a virtual queuing system in airport terminals. As this industry matures, Qtrac’s technology is the only way to keep up.

Digital queuing software from Qtrac helps agencies anticipate some of the shifts that tend to occur in this rapidly changing market. The adaptability of these solutions allows our technology to grow and evolve along with the needs of your business. Qtrac’s robust SaaS system architecture is composed of an agile, state-of-the-art tech stack that works on nearly any device, effectively future-proofing your brand for whatever changes the industry may face.

Streamlined Airport Security Is Only the Beginning.

Although security screening usually eats up a huge chunk of a traveler’s time, plenty of other opportunities exist to make airports more efficient and perhaps even more enjoyable. Just think about all the waiting you do when you’re traveling by plane—and how much time you could save by getting some of that wait time back!

Ready to get your customer queues moving? Start reimagining government office customer flow management systems with Qtrac.