It’s easy to be cynical when companies say things like “2017 is our year of digitalization” and “our ambition is to be the most digital aviation group”.
But for Lufthansa, there is more to this than just PR puff.
Three innovations stand out particularly: Lufthansa’s FlyingLab, an inflight digital conference and tech testing experience; the use of immersive 3D mapping, and the use of 360° video/virtual reality to drive sales and upgrades.
Dr. Torsten Wingenter, Head of Digital Innovations at Lufthansa Airlines, sat down with ClickZ’s Andy Favell at the IAB conference at Mobile World Congress to tell us more.
Lufthansa FlyingLab
Lufthansa has built a platform called FlyingLab. This allows the airline to run an inflight conference with the keynote speakers streamed live to passengers’ personal devices – laptop, tablet or smartphone.
It also enables Lufthansa, corporate partners and passengers to test out new technology while travelling to their destination.
The inaugural FlyingLab took place in July 2016 between Frankfurt and San José, California. The most recent was a special SXSW FlyingLab took place March 2017 from Frankfurt to Huston, Texas, for the South by South West (SXSW) conference in Austin.
Dr. Wingenter explains:
“We have an inflight conference called FlyingLab. It is all about the digitization of the world and the influence on flying and in the flying lab you can experience this.
“On the SXSW flight we have eight speakers [including speakers from Daimler, Publicis, SAP, T-Mobile, Faber Ventures and M-Love]. We film them and stream the signal live to the personal devices of our guests. These are the passengers’ own devices or ones provided by Lufthansa or a technology partner. They listen through the headphones and the mobile device has a split screen showing the video of the speaker in one part and the presentation slides on the other.
No other airline has a technology platform like this.”
The image below shows Dr. Wingenter’s presentation being filmed and streamed live to the devices of FlyingLab passengers.
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The FlyingLab also allows the testing of inflight technologies. On the SXSW flight, passengers could test out Avegant Glyph, video headset, QuietOn noise cancelation earplugs and smart jewelry from Ringly.
“We hand out gadgets and new technology to our guests to test out. On the first FlyingLab to San Jose last year, we tested the Samsung Gear VR and Neuroon, a sleep mask that monitors your brain waves and pulse and recommends when you should sleep and how much to sleep you require.
“On the SXSW flight we have Avegant Glyph. This is a video headset that projects images [from a smartphone, laptop or game console] directly onto retina in your eyes. It is a pair of headphones and you pull down the viewing screen. Glyph is interesting to us, because it allows the crew to see if the person is sleeping or watching a movie, so they know whether to bother them or not.
“We try out different mobile technologies to see if this is something that we should offer to our status customers in a year or so. It also allows passengers to test out technologies that are new to them.”
The video below was shot on the inaugural FlyingLab to San José:
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Travel shows are great, but for Dr. Wingenter VR really comes into its own at the airport.
“The most important thing is not doing the demos at shows, but to have VR at the point of sale. A lot of companies are talking about VR but the question is what are the use cases and how can you earn money with it.
“In February we started selling upgrades to premium economy by VR. So you are sitting at the gate, and a Lufthansa person comes up to you and asks if you would like to see a 360° video of your destination.
“First you experience your destination, e.g. San Jose, using the VR goggles; then you are asked if you would like to look round the new Lufthansa premium economy class. With the option to upgrade to premium economy for a special price.
“It has been very successful and the most interesting part is that you can try before you buy. People don’t know what Premium economy is or looks like — what the seats are like.”
The video below shows San Jose in 360°. You don’t need a VR headset to view it. The YouTube viewer allows you to rotate the image using the arrows:
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Source: Clickz