Mobile can reduce confusion as 50 airlines change terminal at Heathrow

Congratulations to BA as it moves to its new home at London Heathrow Terminal 5.

As BA gradually vacates the space it occupies in other Heathrow terminals this is the catalyst for a spate of musical chairs ... with over 50 airlines moving terminal at Heathrow during 2008 and 2009.

Inevitably this is going to cause confusion for even the most seasoned of travellers. So, what can airlines do to ensure this transition runs as smoothly as possible for passengers?

I'm sure all the airlines will send emails to their passengers drawing attention to the terminal changes. Human nature says many of us will repeatedly re-check this information to reassure ourselves we're heading for the right terminal. So, we'll print the email ... creating extra paper to carry around ... and an extra document to potentially misplace.

It strikes me that there is a strong case for providing this reassurance information by SMS text message. We all carry our phones with us when we're travelling ... and having the new terminal details stored safely on our mobiles means no printing, no paper to carry, and hopefully less confusion all round.

What do travellers want from mobile?

A piece of advice for travel companies who are considering creating a mobile version of their website: STOP!

Before you commit to the expense of converting functionality from your existing website to the mobile world, take a step back and ask yourself "What do my customers really want from mobile?"

To get you started, let's consider what people are using the mobile web for in general. And thanks to Bryson Meuneir, we have insight into the top 100 mobile search terms from AT&T in the U.S during September 2007.

What's interesting is that mobile web-users seem to be very specific in what they are looking for (perhaps because they're unsure of the mobile URL) and often search for brand names e.g. Google, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Hotmail, eBay, etc.

What we don't see in that top 100 is any of the major travel brands or even any travel related search terms like flight or hotel. The nearest travel-ish related term is weather, which comes in at number 6 on the list.

We have to remember that this list reflects the demographics of the mobile web audience, which today is most heavily used by the 18-24 age group. But, it does seem that the mobile web is mainly being used for entertainment - filling time during boring moments when we don't have PC based Internet access.

So, how does this apply to travel?

To me, this says think really hard before making your booking engine available on the mobile-web. Is this really what your customers want?

Shouldn't mobile communication in travel be concerned with satisfying the wants and needs of travellers whilst they are travelling and when they don't have regular Internet access? For travel companies, this means the mobile web is an opportunity to improve customer loyalty and to reinforce their brand.

And, there are plenty of boring moments during any trip that travel companies can alleviate by providing compelling, informative and entertaining mobile-content. For examples of the type of content travel companies can provide why not revisit my last article?