Research Summary

This post outlines the research we have conducted in the early stages of this project and how it has directed us in our choice of evaluation criteria, to our final choice of problem space, concept and in prototyping. Below I have included mainly the research relating to our chosen problem space: Passengers need timely updates on their checked baggage status to avoid unnecessary waiting.

Researching External Sources

We looked at a lot of existing and new innovations based around the airport experience. We also found many articles, reports and studies about user experience at airports and retrieved a lot of statistical data. 

Some of the main sources of airport research data include:

Source: 2014 IATA Global Passenger Survey:

https://www.iata.org/publications/Pages/global-passenger-survey.aspx

SITA Passenger IT Trends Survey 2014
http://www.sita.aero/resources/type/surveys-reports/passenger-it-trends-survey-2014

Brisbane Airport Visits

We visited the existing domestic terminal on multiple occasions and made many observations and conducted user interviews. We also took a lot of photos and video to refer back to.
Some notes and observations regarding baggage collection:

• Confusion after a massive storm caused up to 2 hour delays at Brisbane. We followed an arriving Cairns flight passengers, from arrival gate to the baggage carousel. There was a lack of information to which carousel bags were to arrive on. Passengers wandering around from carousel to carousel, crowding around certain sections of the carousel, standing around taking space in thoroughfares.
• One team member had an experience collecting baggage on a flight from Christchurch arriving in BNE: 
• 6 flight numbers from 4 different airlines on monitor after previous flight had cleared approx 5 mins for first load of bags (approx 10 bags)  to come out
• then another 15 mins before any more bags come out
• passengers were restless and annoyed
• multiple overhead announcements but not relating to why bags delayed
• another flight landed (flight 3), directed to second baggage carousel
• bags for flight 3 were unloaded before majority of bags from flight 2
• customs which was previously nearly empty now has 2 flights of people coming through
• passengers noticeably annoyed and tried to rush in front of each other to get ahead in customs queue
• can’t use phones until passed customs so cannot contact people who are collecting passengers to notify of delay

User Surveys

We generated a Google Survey asking various users about their past airport experiences, habits and any additional feedback regarding areas of improvement, pain points. We received over 40 responses from friends and family, with people from a wide range of backgrounds, age groups and other varied demographics.

• Some feedback about improving Brisbane Airport included: "Faster lines", "Do something to shorten the waiting lines."
• 36 respondents (90%) own a smart phone,  30 (75%) own a tablet device. and the majority used these devices within the airport experience in some form, such as for entertainment to pass time, online check-in/e-boarding pass.
• 27 respondents (68%) had a friend or family member pick them up from the Brisbane Domestic Airport

We then used this survey data to generate our 6 personas.