APEX and Crystal Cabin Award Launch Seamless Journey Award to Connect the Passenger Experience
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The Crystal Cabin Award and Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) have launched the new Seamless Journey Award to recognize innovations that connect the aircraft cabin with the rest of the passenger journey. The award brings together airlines, airports, technology providers, manufacturers and service partners to find new ways to make travel easier for passengers. Submissions remain open through October 9, with the winner set to receive the Crystal Cabin Award trophy at APEX FTE EXPO in Singapore on November 19.
Looking Beyond the Aircraft Cabin
Seamless Journey focuses on what happens beyond the flight itself. It looks at how the cabin can work with airport services, ground transportation and other parts of the trip.
“Seamless Journey recognizes concepts and solutions that connect the aircraft cabin with the wider passenger journey, including airports, ground services, transfers and destination experiences,” said Crystal Cabin Award Marketing and Communications Manager Angus Baigent. The new award remains separate from the eight main Crystal Cabin Award categories and follows its own application and selection process.
While those categories focus on specific areas of aircraft interior innovation, Seamless Journey looks at how onboard products and services can work with the rest of the trip. Examples could include digital platforms linking airport and onboard services, better coordination for passengers who need assistance, baggage information that follows travelers or ground transportation that updates before landing.
For Baigent, linking two systems alone does not go far enough. “The defining feature is meaningful integration: how does an innovation connect what happens onboard with another part of the trip, and what becomes easier or better as a result?” he said.
Cooperation plays a major role because passengers move through services provided by many different companies. Airlines, airports, ground handlers, manufacturers, technology companies and service providers each manage part of the experience.
“Cooperation is key here,” Baigent said. “The award creates a platform for ideas involving airlines, airports, manufacturers, technology providers and service partners to get together to come up with new solutions.”
The partnership between APEX and the Crystal Cabin Award reflects that broader approach. “That is also why the partnership between APEX and the Crystal Cabin Award is ideal for this award: it combines cabin expertise with a broader passenger experience perspective,” Baigent said.
Why the Timing Matters
Airlines and aircraft manufacturers continue to expand inflight connectivity (IFC), opening new ways to use technology before, during and after a flight. Faster and more reliable connections can help information and services move between the aircraft and the ground.
“The connected aircraft is opening up new possibilities,” Baigent said. “Airlines and OEMs are quickly ramping up connectivity and bandwidth on flights. We have an incredible opportunity to use those capabilities to improve the journey beyond the cabin.”
Passengers could update ground transportation before landing, while airport and cabin teams could better share information about accessibility needs or personal preferences. These services could remove some of the tasks travelers currently have to manage themselves.
The challenge now is turning greater connectivity into services passengers actually find useful. “Better connectivity creates the potential for continuity, but companies have to turn that potential into useful services,” Baigent said. “The interesting question is what passengers can now do or stop worrying about as a result.”
That means using technology to solve real problems rather than adding another app or digital feature. The focus should remain on what the technology actually improves for the traveler.
Baigent pointed to better communication between ground and cabin teams, updated onward travel arrangements while a passenger remains airborne and preferences carried across airport and onboard services as possible examples. He said the award could uncover ideas its organizers have not yet considered.
“What we’re particularly excited about is discovering all the aspects we haven’t thought about while designing the award!” Baigent said. The concept fits with the work of APEX, IFSA and Future Travel Experience across airline products, airports, technology and hospitality.
APEX Group CEO Dr. Joe Leader said Seamless Journey looks at the passenger experience as a whole. “Seamless Journey perfectly exemplifies our shared purpose, recognizing innovations that connect the aircraft cabin with the entire passenger journey,” Dr. Leader said. “Airport services, digital platforms, onboard hospitality, accessibility, baggage, and onward travel all contribute to that experience.”
“Recognizing these ideas also encourages companies to look beyond their own part of the journey and find partners who can help them deliver a better overall experience,” Baigent said. “That benefits the wider industry, too.”
Opening the Award to New Ideas
Seamless Journey welcomes ideas from across aviation, including digital products and services that go beyond traditional cabin innovation. The focus is on whether an idea improves the way the onboard experience works with another stage of travel.
“You do not have to manufacture a cabin product, digital connections are just as meaningful,” Baigent said. “The essential part is innovation connecting the cabin with the wider travel experience.”
Entries could cover digital passenger services, airport and onboard experiences, multimodal travel, accessibility, baggage, retail, destination services or data-driven tools. Concepts do not need to have fully launched, but they should be viable for implementation within approximately two years and no more than one year old.
For organizations deciding whether an idea fits, Baigent suggested asking three questions. “Which parts of the journey does the solution connect, what friction does it remove, and who benefits?” he said.
Those questions get to what Seamless Journey looks for in an entry. A strong submission should explain what the innovation does, what problem it solves and how passengers or the industry benefit.
The award gives applicants the chance to put their ideas in front of experts and potential partners across the APEX and Crystal Cabin Award communities. “The award offers valuable visibility for your innovation,” Baigent said. “This is a golden opportunity to put your idea before industry experts and potential partners through the combined APEX and Crystal Cabin Award networks.”
Dr. Leader encouraged companies to submit their eligible work. “Give your team’s ingenuity the recognition it deserves, and show our industry what connected thinking can achieve,” he said.
The winner will receive the Crystal Cabin Award trophy at APEX FTE EXPO in Singapore on November 19. The recognition gives innovators a chance to bring their work to a wider aviation audience.