Singapore Airlines launches new mobile app

Singapore Airlines has launched its new mobile app featuring a new user interface, as well as other enhanced features, which the Singaporean flag carrier says will improve customer experience.

According to the airline, the new app is “designed for faster performance and improved usability, and introduces new features that offer customers a seamless and more personalized experience.”

Passengers may enjoy “significantly enhanced” booking and check-in flows, and improved transaction time “by up to 60 percent.”

The new features include “Capture & Discover,” a search function that uses image recognition as well as speech and natural language (English only) processing to identify the user intent, match it to a destination to which Singapore Airlines flies, and show relevant information about the destination and fare deals.

“An example is [that] a user may search for destinations that are good for a beach holiday by telling the mobile app ‘beach holiday’. The app will then recommend places that may interest the user, possible events that could take place at the destination, as well as applicable fare deals for the user to plan for a beach holiday,” a Singapore Airlines spokesperson told Business Traveller Asia-Pacific.

The new “Translation Assistant” function uses real-time language translation by voice. According to the spokesperson, the audio replay is available in Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. Users can use this feature any time, regardless of whether or not they are on a trip flying Singapore Airlines.

There’s also the “Measure Your Baggage” function, currently only available on iOS, which helps passengers check whether the size of their baggage is within cabin baggage limitations.

Existing features have also been upgraded. In a feature known as “My Trips,” users can now track real-time information such as boarding gate details, the destination’s weather and currency exchange rates (available one week prior to flight departure), and baggage belt information for Singapore-bound flights.

Members of the airline’s loyalty program, Krisflyer, will see a newly designed dashboard and a new “Inbox” feature that stores push notifications and Krisflyer messages. Biometric log in methods such as fingerprint authentication, as well as Apple’s Face ID and Touch ID have been introduced to compatible devices as well.

The new app also sees enhancements of inflight entertainment features, including extended access to e-Library magazine and newspaper content based on Krisflyer membership tier, and a new search and filter function. Users can continue to bookmark their movies and pick up where they left off on subsequent flights with the newest in-flight entertainment system available on the carrier’s Boeing 787-10s and select Boeing 777-300ER, Airbus A350-900 and A380 aircraft.

Other highlights include new booking and check-in flows, as well as support for Google Pay and Apple Wallet for digital payment and mobile boarding pass. The app is available in 14 languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Bahasa Indonesia, Dutch, Italian and Thai.

Some other new features will be added to the app in the future, such as new miles redemption booking flow, new multi city booking flow, new Krisflyer profile and miles statements, Alipay wallet, credit card scan for payment, recent searches on Home, the ability to preselect meal services, “follow a flight” push notifications, and news alerts in Inbox. The spokesperson said that the airline is currently unable to share a timeline of the introduction of these features.

Commenting on the news, Campbell Wilson, senior vice president sales and marketing, said: “Singapore Airlines has been investing heavily to enhance our digital capabilities. With new user interface designs and insourcing of developer and customer experience talent, we are working to provide faster and more customer-centric products and services to improve the customer experience.”

He added: “The launch of our new app follows many other digital innovation initiatives, such as KrisPay, the world’s first blockchain-based airline loyalty digital wallet, and the progressive redesign of our website and its underlying architecture. Improvements to our mobile app will not stop here and we will continue to invest our efforts to add value to our customers’ experience.”

The new app on the iOS platform will be available for download from the App Store in September this year, while for Android users, it is being released on the Google Play Store progressively by country from July to September 2019. The beta version will still be available for download in the meantime. Alternatively, users may continue to manage their bookings on Singapore Air’s existing mobile app on their own device.