Alicante might have a stunning new airport but some customer experiences remain the same.

This was the disheartening view that greeted us at the end of our holiday.

We joined the back of this queue to check-in our one bag, which actually took so long to do we were required to board the plane as soon as we went through airport security (with its own queuing, undressing & organised chaos). So no food or duty free was purchased and we were on our feet until we were sat in our seats on the plane.

In total, checking in this one bag both ways took us roughly 2 hours - 2 hours not spent with family or spending money at the airport (or sleeping at home).

As you queue past these machines, which look great (and very useful) but I have never once seen being used, you understand they are probably for printing boarding passes (or for DIY lost luggage recovery?) but that they are obviously not baggage tag printers and you laugh to yourself at the irony of needing to queue for 1hr to put your bag on a conveyor belt whilst being asked seemingly unnecessary questions. A frustrating disconnect in self-service.

So until designers (hopefully us) are able to help all passengers board planes quickly & conveniently with all the luggage they wish to take (however much they paid for their ticket) in ways that benefit the airline, the passenger and the airport, our advice would be to always travel as light as possible (carry on only!). 

I wanted to highlight a nice - simple & very cheap - solution that has been implemented since the last time I flew with this particular airline. It is to do with their particular priority/speedy boarding scheme, which previously left customers unconvinced. 

Although priority boarding passengers were front of the queue out of the airport terminal (before as now) they were often then led to a bus to the plane which seated another 1/3 of the remaining passengers (and first on the bus didn’t mean first off). So when the bus doors opened the scramble & race to the plane began.

In this new system an area of the bus is reserved for priority boarding passengers and the doors at this end open first. This works very well and has genuine benefits, which are clearly visible to the passengers who didn’t purchase speedy boarding as well as to those who can enjoy them. 

These are just snippets of this one journey and only an overview – but through living these experiences designers can understand how to improve them for your customers.

*Keep your eyes peeled for the new Ideas Monster Service Design site coming soon.