New Digital Tools Aim to Take the Pain Out of Busiest Travel Day

As the number of people traveling for Thanksgiving is projected to hit levels not seen since 2019, a growing number of consumers are turning to digital tools to book, manage documents and pay for things along the way in hopes of making their trips go smoothly.

Although the volume of travel has picked up, many of the troubles in the travel industry have remained. This summer saw unprecedented flight delays and elongated pre-boarding and check-in procedures that had travelers spending more time in airports than ever.

In its most recent Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said there was a 6% increase in air travel service complaints from July to August. What’s more, the number of complaints was up 320% from where it was before the pandemic.

For airport restaurants and shops like Hudson, flight delays have meant more business. For travelers, it’s meant another opportunity to use convenient digital payment methods when buying coffee, cuisine, personal care products and other goods while on the move.

To mitigate their air travel challenges, PYMNTS research has found that consumers are turning to digital solutions. Their use of airline booking apps and websites grew 16% in the second quarter of 2022, making it the fastest-growing digital activity among the 37 such activities tracked in the September study “How The World Does Digital: The Impact Of Payments On Digital Transformation.”

There was also a 15% increase in the use of apps to book and pay for train, bus and taxi rides, making this the second fastest growing digital activity.

The report noted that these figures signal both a strong desire to travel — despite inflation — and the increasing digital transformation of how travel is purchased.

Some of the new digital tools available to consumers over this year’s holiday weekend will help them pay for and manage their trips via public transportation and air.

As PYMNTS reported Nov. 15, Google Wallet continues to add to the partnerships that enable users to tap and pay for public transportation and to save mobile boarding passes when flying.

“There’s so much to keep track of before a flight,” Google Wallet Vice President and General Manager Jenny Cheng said in a product update. “So we partner with airlines like AirAsia, Air France, China Air, Ryanair and United Airlines to help travelers easily save and access their mobile boarding passes in Wallet.”

Apple Wallet, too, helps make travel easier. In March, it launched a driver’s license and state ID in Wallet with Arizona. Since then, it has added Colorado and Maryland, and the firm says that more states will follow.

Apple said this provides travelers with “an easy, secure and private way to present their ID when traveling, through just a tap of their iPhone or Apple Watch.”

That’s a convenience item that will be in demand, as travel app Hopper reports that volume of air travel expected over Thanksgiving is back to its pre-pandemic norm.

The number of seats expected to depart on flights from U.S. airports during the Thanksgiving travel week is expected to be 6% higher than it was in 2019, the company said in its Thanksgiving Travel 2022 Outlook Report.

The price of the average domestic round-trip ticket, $282, will be in line with the price that year, while an international one at $842 will be 30% higher than 2019’s $648, according to Hopper.

With a greater number of people able to travel and meet with friends and family for Thanksgiving, they’ll also be better able to reduce the amount of friction that’s typically involved in getting from here to there if they deploy these digital tools.