A new armband, Airband, will give parents and guardians the ability to track their children on board Air New Zealand flights, giving them greater peace of mind.
Children who are travelling alone and aged between five and 11 will receive an Airband at check-in as part of the service. Children aged up to 16 years can also choose to opt in.
The Armband is embedded with a chip which is scanned at key stages of the journey to trigger text notifications to up to five nominated contacts, following the steps of the child’s journey.
It’s a great example of the airline investing in technology to enhance the customer experience:
“We know that having your child travel on their own can be a nervous time for both children and their guardians. While our staff have always taken great care of children travelling solo, we identified that there was an opportunity to enhance the experience for kids while at the same time giving caregivers further peace of mind and visibility of their journey.”
Carrie Hurihanganui, General Manager Customer Experience, Air New Zealand
According to the ever-hilarious Air New Zealand, the introduction of the arm bands will be the first time an airline has used this type of technology for the purposes of giving caregivers greater peace of mind when their child is travelling alone.
“We have been trialling it across our network over recent months and the feedback from parents and guardians has been very positive with many welcoming the additional reassurance of knowing where in the journey their child is.”
Carrie Hurihanganui, General Manager Customer Experience, Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand is the only carrier in New Zealand offering a service for children travelling alone.
The new service is being offered on a complimentary basis through until 3 February 2016. Bookings made from this date will incur a fee of $15 per child for each one way domestic journey, or $40 per child for each one way international journey applies.
