A new report by Amadeus, ‘Embracing airline digital transformation: a spotlight on what travellers value’, sheds new light on what travellers value when shopping for a flight.

The report explores new methods to aggregate customer data, accompanied by behavioural economic approaches, Artificial Intelligence and ‘Contextual Commerce’, and discusses a model of product vs service vs convenience, in order for airlines to be able to market intuitively each upsell opportunity.

For each traveller, the balance between the three elements above will shift, affecting the overall price that they are willing to pay for a flight, according to the report

In a survey conducted for the report, 56% of travellers that the total package was most important to them, but only 24% valued the lowest price the most.

The example given by the reports is a new mother travelling with a baby is likely to be very focused on the service experience. However, the same mother travelling alone for business or leisure will have different priorities.

Commissioned by Amadeus and Connections, a global networking and events organiser, the study is based on interviews with airlines, travel agency and technology experts. In addition, the report contains an independent survey of travellers focused on what they most value when booking a flight.

The report also flags other changes taking place as digital becomes a driving force in the airline industry.

Among these are economy class is evolving with airlines responding by using data to better upsell products with the base fare.

“Identifying upsell opportunities has long been the holy grail of the airline industry. Now there are new approaches to truly understand and define what people actually value when they travel. The ability of new technologies to aggregate customer data, combined with the application of behavioural economics, will help airlines to present their offer in a way that secures revenue and loyalty,” said Elena Avila, Head of Strategy at Amadeus IT Group.