Much has been said how airlines should evolve/transform into travel platforms that provide passengers with relevant products and services during their journey from door to door.
Think airport transfers, baggage pick-up and delivery, duty free delivery on arrival, etc.
These kind of convenience-based services are taking off in a response to the expectations of customers used to manage their life from their smartphone in an ‘on-demand’ economy.
Beyond the flight: Groceries
A new example of how airlines are thinking beyond the flight is a pilot between Dutch LCC Transavia and Holland’s major retailer Albert Heijn which aims to ease the woes of travellers who find an empty fridge and a closed supermarket when returning home, for example in the evening or on a Sunday.
Similar insights have led retailers such as Tesco to trial a QR shopping wall trial at London Gatwick back in 2012, while Lufthansa has held trials with German supermarkets Rewe and Edeka to let passengers order groceries via its FlyNet inflight wifi portal for home delivery.
Appie Fly
Appie Fly is a joint experiment by Albert Heijn and Transavia that allows passengers on all inbound Transavia flights to Rotterdam The Hague Airport to order fresh breakfast boxes and then collect them after arrival.
The breakfast boxes can be picked up from the Appie Fly collection point, which is located at the Illy Coffee Corner in the arrival hall of the airport.
Passengers can place their orders online when checking in for their flight to the Netherlands via Transavia’s mobile responsive website. The ‘Welcome Home’ boxes, which are sufficient for two people, offer two varieties of breakfast and are priced at euro 12.50 each.
The Appie Fly ‘Welcome Home Box’ is the result of a joint Google design sprint of the innovation labs of Transavia and Albert Heijn in which they explored what kind of joint customer propositions could be developed.
For Transavia, Appie Fly is a way to extend its service proposition – and potentially earn an ancillary fee – while for Albert Heijn, Transavia serves as an additional sales channel.
Earlier this year, the service has been tested on a small scale at Schiphol Airport, while the current trial at Rotterdam The Hague airport is for three months.
Transavia Innovation Lab
The Appie Fly service is part of a broader innovation program at Transavia which also has seen the launch of a bagagge check-in and collection service in cooperation with Post NL.
As one of the first airlines to use Whatsapp for customer service, Transavia is also using Whatsapp to let passengers purchase additional services (such as extra luggage allowance or better seats) using ABN Amro’s Tikkie service.
This payment request service allows customers to pay immediately using Tikkie during the Whatsapp chat with Transavia’s customer service.