TELECOMS & MOBILE
BA introduces WAP check-in facility
10-01-2001
by Aoidin Scully
British Airways is introducing a WAP facility to allow frequent fliers to check-in for flights using a mobile phone.
The new services, developed in conjunction with IBM, will also let users look up flight availability and view up-to-the-minute flight arrivals and departures information for any British Airways flight.
Subscribers to the service, BA claims, will be able to check-in using the pictorial seat selection tool on the WAP phone, collect their boarding pass from a self-service kiosk, leave their luggage at the fast bag drop and go straight to the boarding gate, instead of queuing at the check-in desk.
The system has been designed specially for the smaller interface of a mobile phone and won't overload users with information, according to BA's Richard Murfitt.
"We've deliberately made this a very simple product, with all the information up-front and easily accessible. The graphical seat map, for instance, appears as a series of dots, with empty dots to show that a seat is free. If you've already checked in, your seat will be represented by another symbol, so you can see where you're positioned," said Murfitt.
British Airways plans to invest over STG100 million on various e-commerce initiatives over the next 18 months, with STG12.5 million of that going towards IBM collaborative projects. Murfitt said that BA intends to launch a number of other e-business projects over the next few months, but declined to reveal details at this stage.
British Airways is already working with IBM to develop a facility for passengers to book their flights using WAP phones. The company claims that further developments in WAP technology will enable it to deliver an enhanced personalised service, including enabling passengers to select their food and drink and a newspaper to read on their flight by WAP phone.
"We were able to build and integrate these WAP applications very quickly and cost-effectively because we had already built an eCommerce platform with British Airways to support multiple contact channels," said Mike Hulley, Vice-President, of IBM Global Travel and Transportation Industry.
The service will be available to Gold and Silver Card Executive Club members from the end of January. BA has no firm plans to expand the facility to all its customers yet.
"The issues at the moment are really on providing the reliability and speed that our frequent fliers need, and we will work to continuously improve those," said Murfitt.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 