Delivery! Co-designing luggage services

Abstract

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol suffers from capacity problems during peak travel seasons and times. 'Luggage services' are a recently emerged, promising innovation that could possibly help with easing luggage congestion at the airport. Consequently, Schiphol has shown interest in luggage services, but research knowledge on possible target group of users is unknown. Schiphol and Delft University of Technology are both contributing to PASSME, a EU-funded research project aiming to reduce passenger door-to-door travel time by 60 minutes and to improve passenger experience at airports.

Via this programme, a Master's thesis research project was carried out that had the following research questions: 1. Who are possible users for luggage services? 2. What are the needs of these users in the current passenger journey? 3. What features should the service offer to attend to these needs? The project also had the aim to find out how the solution could improve passenger experience and cut down waiting time, alleviate the luggage congestion problem at Schiphol as well as to explain what Schiphol's role in luggage services could be.

The project was carried out via a co-creation approach, having members of the target group dictate the service requirements and features, which would then be further designed and evaluated with these target users. End deliverable was a service blueprint depicting multiple level interactions taking place at various stages of using a luggage service.

The outcome was that holidaying parents and seniors could be a good leading target group for the service due to bringing lots of luggage along the trip and because of reduced mobility brought by aging. Main identified user needs were having control, being informed and having trust, that a luggage service should convey via different kinds of interactions. It should offer its users options to tailor the service to each user's individual schedules and trip itinerary and keep them informed of their luggage. It should also operate under a known brand that the users can trust.

Finally, it was concluded that luggage services can improve passenger experience by reducing waiting time at the airport as well as easing luggage-related stress during other parts of the holiday journey. They also have the potential to ease Schiphol's luggage congestion by diverting luggage away from the airport, although it is recommended that Schiphol looks also into other options. Schiphol itself has good potential to operate a luggage service with industry partners under Schiphol's familiar, trusted brand.