The airline industry could save $600m a year by tracking passengers through airports and punting ads to their mobiles

According to a recent report released by SITA (The Air Transport Industry Tech Gurus), ‘digital travellers’ will have on-demand access to a range of mobile enabled services, giving passengers, for the first time, a proactive role in their travel experience while on the move.

Potential areas where mobiles will make a difference to tomorrow’s traveller:

• Mobile phones could hold all your travel documents, including an e-passport (we’re already seeing this happen in Japan with the use of FeliCa handsets)
• Mobile alerts could help avoid travel stress points:
  • Spend less time queuing
  • Receive a timely reminder that the aircraft is boarding, with directions to the gate
  • Avoid waiting at the carousel for late bags
• Have immediate access to applications that allow you to change your travel itinerary wherever you are

But not everyone is in love with this idea. The trade-off (yes, there always seems to be a catch) is that you lose your privacy. According to The Register:

Airline travel is set to get even more unpleasant, as hapless airline passengers face being hounded through airports by online advertisers as well as security, customs and perfume touting duty free sales staff.

The tracking idea could be done in conjunction with the network operators, in much the same way commercial tracking happens now. At present customers receive an SMS asking them if they’re OK with the idea, and if they don’t say no then the third party (in this case the airport) gains access to instant information about the location of the phone, and hence that of the user. That generally gives rough information, though the density of cells within an airport should give locations within a hundred meters or so.

Would you like a more “always-on & on-the-go” airport experience? Even at the expense of your privacy?