Roughly a third of the time spent in the Southwest Airlines inflight connectivity portal is consumed on the moving map. And those passengers now have some additional infotainment available. The carrier is the launch customer for Destination Reels from FlightPath3D, an immersive travel guide loaded with mobile-friendly, short-form videos for all of Southwest’s destinations.
We are excited to be the launch airline for this Flight Tracker with Destination Reels, delivering exclusive short video destination content directly to our Customers as we continue to enhance our Customer Experience through the various touchpoints in their journey.
– Tony Roach, Vice President Customer Experience & Engagement at Southwest Airlines
The overall interface builds on the FlightPath3D in-flight map solution. The same pinch-and-zoom view remains at the core of the offering. But Destination Reels takes it a step further, using a proprietary blend of data and demand to help expose travelers to attractions at their destination.
Read more: FlightPath3D crunches big data to improve the moving map
“There is a gap between the on-board experience and what consumers are used to with the latest Internet apps such as Instagram and TikTok,” explains Duncan Jackson, President of FlightPath3D. “We’ve created a virtual 3D world to track the flight packed with a feed of thousands of destination videos to bridge this gap.”
The new Destination Reels solution is more than just dropping a few videos into the portal. Passengers can build an itinerary of destination clips, save it, and share with others. It also builds on FlightPath3D’s history of data analytics to help surface more compelling content to passengers.
Read more: Bringing a 360 view to the moving map
Some of that comes down to user-selected filters, such as nature or architecture. But FlightPath3D is also working its magic behind the scenes to help guide what is surfaced for users.
Jackson explains it as “using data science to rank attractions and help match user interests to destination experiences to promote more travel.” Of course, the company also sees potential to monetize the recommendations surfaced to travelers.
Read more: FlightPath3D brings in-flight detail to fly-over country (and everywhere else on the planet)
Going back to 2017, Jackson spoke about monetization around booking car transfers and hotel rooms. Most travelers already have those booked when they board, however, shrinking the addressable market. Attractions, however, offer greater potential for sales.
In early 2019 FlightPath3D highlighted a proprietary, patent pending algorithm that helps the company collect data on more than 400,000 attractions around the globe. FlightPath3D organizes details from traveler reviews, social media platforms and other sources to determine what’s worth seeing.
Selling tickets or tours via the interface is one revenue source the company has discussed in the past. Opening up that interface to sponsored content is another way to potentially deliver a bit of revenue to travelers.
A favor to ask while you're here...
Did you enjoy the content? Or learn something useful? Or generally just think this is the type of story you'd like to see more of? Consider supporting the site through a donation (any amount helps). It helps keep me independent and avoiding the credit card schlock.
Leave a Reply