The finalists for the first Crystal Cabin Award special category “Best Customer Journey Experience” have been determined: The “Flagship First Customer Journey” of American Airlines, the “Digital Airport Experience” of super app FLIO, and the Virtual Reality Passenger Experience from Inflight VR and Airbus will compete against each other in the final round.
With its “Flagship First” strategy, US carrier American Airlines is revising its first-class product on all elements of the journey, offering exclusive, unified service from separated check-in areas to arrival lounges at the destination airport. On board, menus created by star chefs and Casper mattresses for the full-flat seats underline the luxury ambience for the passenger.
Finalist FLIO aims at passengers of all booking classes. The “Digital Airport Experience” of the Hamburg-based start-up has become the world’s most widely used airport app for smartphones by now. It includes detailed flight and airport information, terminal overview maps, as well as direct booking options for lounges or transportation at airports worldwide. First airlines have started to integrate FLIO services into their own apps as well.
The final round will be completed by Inflight VR and Airbus. The virtual reality startup already passed through the Airbus internal incubator program BizLab and aims to establish the use of virtual reality glasses on board and in airport lounges. Passengers are to be given a completely new inflight entertainment experience. However, the safety aspect still comes first: For example, the VR transmission is stopped during crew announcements. Inflight VR’s technology is already being rolled out by two airlines since the middle of the year.
The new category is running outside the normal entry phase for the Crystal Cabin Award. It will be presented on 24 September together with the APEX Awards at the APEX EXPO and Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas events in Boston, Massachusetts. The application phase for the other eight categories, traditionally awarded every April at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, will then begin.
“Best Customer Journey Experience” comprises all products that help to improve the customer experience journey (inspiration, planning, booking, purchase, pre-trip, departure, in-flight and post-trip) across airline travel categories. It includes technical end-to-end solutions across categories including applications, artificial intelligence, tools, devices, software, programs etc. The product should offer benefits for airlines, OEMs, and/or suppliers by offering new digital solutions and specific insights about passengers experience for the benefit of on-board technical utilization. The finalists and award winner will provide airlines and their suppliers an inspirational example on how to optimize the cabin for end-to-end travel solutions centered around personalized passenger experience.
This special category complements the existing eight categories awarded each year in Hamburg for the Crystal Cabin Awards: „Cabin Concepts“, „Cabin Systems“, “Greener Cabin, Health, Safety and Environment”, “Inflight Entertainment & Connectivity”, “Material and Components”, “Passenger Comfort Hardware”, “University” and “Visionary Concepts”. Winners of the 2018 season included renowned industry players such as Airbus and Altran, Rockwell Collins, and PriestmanGoode with Qatar Airways.
The Crystal Cabin Award 2018 is supported by the following sponsors and media partners: Airbus, Aircraft Cabin Management, Aircraft Interiors Expo (Reed Exhibitions), Aircraft Interiors International Magazine, AIME 2019 – Aircraft Interiors Middle East, ALTRAN S.A.S. Co. KG, Ameco Beijing, APEX, ATR, Boltaron Inc. – A SIMONA Company, DIEHL Aviation, FERCHAU AVIATION Division, FIT AG – Additive Manufacturing Group, Flightchic, Flightglobal, Future Travel Experience, Global Eagle, HAECO Cabin Solutions, Inflight Magazine, Jetliner Cabins, Lufthansa Technik AG, Panasonic, Rockwell Collins, Runway Girl Network, SEKISUI SPI and Thales.
You too can become a supporter of the Crystal Cabin Award. Information on sponsorship opportunities and packages is available from Carmen Krause (carmen.krause@crystal-cabin-award.com).
About the Crystal Cabin Award
The Crystal Cabin Award is THE international prize for innovations in the field of aircraft cabins. A high-calibre jury made up of renowned academics, engineers, specialist journalists and airline and aircraft manufacturer representatives comes together under the slogan “Let your ideas take off” to honour extraordinary cabin concepts and products. The competition was launched by Hamburg Aviation and is organised by the Crystal Cabin Award Association. The award, to date the only one of its kind, has been presented as part of the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg every year since 2007. The trophies have become a seal of quality, known and coveted around the world.
