Hamburg Airport is trialling smart hand baggage trolleys with the aim of making it easier for passengers to find their way around the airport.
The trolleys are like those in use airside at many airports with areas for passengers to put their hand baggage.
What makes them ‘smart’ is that they have an interactive display that helps guide passengers through the airport and to browse offers in the airport shops.
The trolleys give details of access routes, departure times, departure gates, product promotions and other relevant airport information.
The touchscreens on the new trolleys are easy to operate. On the interactive site map, passengers can choose between shops, restaurants, gates and toilets and be guided to chosen locations. Clicking on a shop or restaurant allows them to browse what is on offer.
Passengers can wander the shops without having to keep looking at screens for flight details. They scan their boarding pass QR code and the trolley will keep an eye on flight details for them. If the flight is moved to another gate or flight details change, a pop-up message will appear on the screen.
30 trolleys are available post security, free of charge, until mid-May.
More dosh for the shops
It’s not all about helping passengers. The company who developed the trolleys has a vision to ‘solve the challenges, which retailers are facing’.
A trial at San Diego International has shown that the trolleys can drive passengers into shops and react to promotions they might otherwise miss.
Hence the emphasis on the shopping. That suggests passengers should expect more tracking in future.
Supplier
The developer is a Danish company, Intelligent Track Systems. The company makes smart trolley solutions for retail. Since 2022, it has been testing its products at airports around the world, including at San Diego International Airport.
The smart trolleys have helped boost engagement with retail and services at San Diego International, according to a report from the company and the airport.
Morten Pankoke, CEO at ITS:
“Hamburg Airport will be the first in Germany to introduce the free-to-use intelligent trolley designed to assist airside passengers with wayfinding and shopping.
“The trolley’s heatmapping, survey and call-to-action capabilities have proven a success, helping elevate the airport experience.
“We at ITS are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Hamburg Airport and look forward to delivering extraordinary service experiences.”
