British Airways Adds Push Notification Feature to iPhone App

To create greater ease and more convenient travelling for passengers, British Airways is adding a ‘push notification’ feature to its iPhone app, which will inform passengers at Heathrow T3 and T5 when their gate is open and when their aircraft is boarding. BA customers with an iPhone will also be able to find their flight status in their device’s notification centre, allowing them to be kept up-to-date with the status of their flight without having to open the airline’s app. The features will be introduced in an update next month, however, and will only be available to iPhone owners who have updated their device to Apple’s new iOS8 operating system. BA stated that they are the first airline to use the new iBeacon technology in its lounges to show notifications based on location. Drew Crawley, BA’s chief commercial officer, said: “These thoughtful features – from alerting customers to gate announcements, to Wi-Fi passwords — truly add value.” “The potential to optimise mobile and digital technology is endless, but requires a careful balance of adding value without bombarding customers.” BA launched the latest version of its smartphone app earlier this year. At the time, it said the number of its customers booking via mobile devices had increased by 290 per cent in two years.