February 21, 2007
FREE SERVICE LAUNCHED TO HELP 45 MILLION PASSENGERS FACING DELAYS EVERY YEAR
STREAMTHRU.COM LAUNCHED GIVING PASSENGERS FREE FLIGHT INFORMATION STRAIGHT TO THEIR MOBILE PHONE
[21 February 2007, Leeds] A new and unique service designed to help UK passengers keep on top of the 46 days** of their adult life they will spend waiting in airports due to flight delays has been launched this week.
Spanning all major UK airports and airlines including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair, StreamThru is the first free service designed to provide passengers with up to the minute information on whether their flight is on time, direct to their mobile phone.
By logging onto www.streamthru.com, passengers can opt to receive confirmation of their flight number and flight times on the day of travel, as well as information on boarding times, departure gates and whether their flight is delayed and if so by how long.
The launch of the service comes at a time when departures from UK airports have rocketed to 180 million, with one in four of all air passengers facing flight delays.
An independent survey of 2,887 flight passengers, conducted to coincide with the launch, has revealed that British adults now take an average of three flights per year, with delays encountered by the average passenger in everyday circumstances equating to a staggering 46 days of thumb twiddling in the departure lounge over a lifetime.
The longest most passengers have been delayed for is nearly seven hours – but one in twenty of all airline passengers have been kept waiting between 24 and 48 hours. The poll also revealed 14 per cent completely missed a holiday due to delays and one in twenty have missed a crucial business meeting.
The fact that until now, delays have been difficult to communicate with travellers prior to arriving at the airport has resulted in 17 per cent of passengers having to sleep in the departure lounge, seven per cent dealing with tired, hysterical children and five per cent having a run in with check-in staff.
But it’s not just delays causing havoc – unclear information actually inside the airport has also led to one in twenty jet setters completely missing their flight.
Before take-off UK travellers spend an average of 23 minutes shopping in Duty Free shops and 26 minutes in the bar getting in to the holiday spirit. A nerdy 17 per cent of Brits also admit to participating in a touch of plane spotting to wile away the time before their flight.
Mike Atherton, Managing Director of Mantic Point, the company behind streamthru.com said: "These results make for grim reading and so it’s no surprise that today more than half of airline travellers say they actually expect there to be a problem with their flight. We’ve all experienced the stress and inconvenience that delayed or cancelled flights can cause and as flight numbers continue to boom off the back of low cost operators, this is a problem that’s not going away."
"To help combat this StreamThru is a free service that is the first in the country to offer travellers SMS flight updates to their mobiles on the day they travel, as well as updates on boarding times and departure gates when actually at the airport. This means travellers always have flight information to hand and can actually take action should delays look likely."
Passengers can opt-in to the free service by registering at www.streamthru.com. A few hours before the scheduled departure time StreamThru sends an SMS message confirming flight details, advising if the flight is likely to be on time or delayed. Approximately 30 minutes before departure the service then sends a reminder of flight details and boarding information. The service also provides travellers with two exclusive retail offers specific to their airport.
ENDS
For further information contact Louise Vaughan on 0845 456 7251 / louisev@acceleris-mc.com
- A survey of 2,887 passengers was undertaken for Mantic Point from 1st – 14th February 2007.
- * The survey of 2,887 respondents revealed that one in every four flights they had taken was delayed. There were 180m departures from UK airports in 2004-2005 (latest available data), equating to 45 million people who face outbound delays a year.
- ** Survey data revealed the average UK adult takes 2.8 flights a year. The average length of delays experienced was 6.6. hours. The average adult lifespan in the UK is 60.5 years (using National Office of Statistics data); 2.8 x 6.6 x 60.5 is 1,118 hours, equating to 46 days in total.
- For more information go to www.streamthru.com
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