Redesigning KLM's Service Regarding Unaccompanied Minors

Abstract

Unaccompanied Minors Service (UMS) is one of the products offered by the airline Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., better known as KLM. This pre-requested service offers an escort to children between the ages of five to fourteen, who travel alone. Children who recieve this service are called Unaccompanied Minors (UM). The current UMS is a complex process, which involves different actors (i.e. UMs, their families, KLM, other partneer airlines, Schiphol services, etc.) and interactions between them through many steps in the journey. The connections and procedures between these different components lack harmony and synchronization, which in turn adversely affects the performance of the service. In addition, UMS’s innovation needs have been overlooked as the service has not been included in KLM’s management priority list until today. Due to recent delicate incidents compromising the security of KLM UMS’ minors and the pressure of a revelling audit report on the service performances, the company decided to bring the service up to priority focus. This graduation project from the Master Design for Interaction from TU Delft complements KLM’s efforts to improve the UMS service. It does so through an analysis of the current state of the service, by researching opportunities for improvement, and by proposing a design solution to be implemented by KLM within one to three years. The final design solution consists on a new Product Service System based on an Application for KLM employees which could be integrated in the new employees platform “Appy2help” (starting piloting November 2015). This application will gather different functionalities that will facilitate the service performance on several levels. The application will be complemented with an “UM wristband” which will be delivered to the UM at the beginning of their journey and which will substitute most of the current paper work as well as optimize different steps of their journey. A new direct communication channel between families and the company was also created in order to keep them updated on the minor’s status among other extra services. The access to this new channel will be via KLM’s core application. The minors travelling alone will also have access to a travelling and entertainment application which would make their solo journeys much more enjoyable.