Esfahani

Hi All,

Just curious, would you be willing to pay .50c for a transaction fee and $1.00 for gate delivery charge for all products incl. (food, gifts, clothing, and other hardware objects) purchased online from the airport vendors for delivery at airport hub gates or a desired location in the airport concourse? Is it worth it to put the order online and save that precious time between your connections instead of waiting in line for it?

What do you think? Would you be willing to pay even more for this if the service is really worth it? Interested to see your comments you all.

Thanks.

E.

ScottC

I'd pay for it if the product managed to be at a competative price point, which is almost never the case with an airport store.

I rarely find lines at airport stores, because I never see them that busy. If I have the time to order something before my trip, I'd be better off just ordering it from Amazon for next (or sometimes even same day) delivery to my hom or hotel.

Esfahani

Scott,

Thanks for the post. But what do you do...say if you were in chicago and needed to grab something to eat, you had tight connections and food court is far away from your departure gate! Would this help?

ScottC

It all depends how much faster you can get it to the gate. Airports like Chicago have food spread out all over the place, so if really can let me order online, prepare the food, get it to the gate, and then find me in the gate area, then yeah, I may give it a try. But something like this sounds like quite the hassle, and could probably be done with a vending machine too.

sbm12

FWIW, this sort of service - for food - is available at JFK T5 today for no additional fee. They have dozens of touch-screen monitors all over the terminal. You order and swipe the CC at the screen and the food shows up a bit later.

I think the biggest barrier to adoption is the need to have access to the internet to place the order. If I have to stop walking to open my laptop or read my BB screen and place the order I may as well just stand in line at the restaurant.

I've used the service at JFK T5 but only because I was curious about it, not because it saved me time or money. Some pictures and more description about it can be found here.

Esfahani

Thanks for the reply sbm12!

Hand held devices are getting better and better everyday! Thus, they are becoming increasingly popular! What about using something like blackburry etc.

Any thoughts from others on this issue! I like to hear what business and leasure travellers think about this!

Thanks,

E.

sbm12

Even with a BB or iPhone I don't see it working, at least not for me. Unless I want to walk in to another passenger or a wall or something I generally like to actually watch where I'm going as I traverse the concourses.

Pizzaman

ModSpeak On

Since this isn't tied to a specific travel-related article, I'm going to move it to TravelBuzz!

ModSpeak Off

swag

The only thing I'm likely to want to get at the airport when time is tight is food & beverage. And I'd certainly pay $1.50 to have that extra value meal hot and waiting for me at the connecting gate. But the challenge I see is the timing. If my inbound is delayed as little as 10 or 15 minutes, then the food is getting cold, and your delivery guy is wasting valuable time standing around waiting for me to arrive.

djk7

About the only thing I buy in airports is food or drink. The concept sounds interesting, but I think it would be difficult to implement. As swag mentioned, there is the issue of flight delays causing timing problems with delivery. For those that order in advance for food at a connection point, you would need to know the inbound flight, so you could check actual times, adjust delivery for delayed flights, and cancel the order if the flight was canceled.

The other time I could see this as being convenient is where I have a longer layover and have managed to find a seat and power outlet near my gate and don't want to give it up. Then it would be great to order something to eat. Beer delivery on the concourse would be even better, but very few airports (US at least) allow alcohol consumption outside of bars and restaurants.

Esfahani

I'd imagine the logistics will be taken care of. I'd imagine they will mointor departures/ arrivals with a sophisticated FIDS (flight info display system) to make sure that passengers are met on-time.

Here's this scenario - you have 25 min connecting time - for instance your flight has arrived late into one of the big hubs, airlines don't serve food! What do you do?! It will be even worse if you travel cost to cost!!

Esfahani

I'd imagine the logistics will be taken care of. I'd imagine they will mointor departures/ arrivals with a sophisticated FIDS (flight info display system) to make sure that passengers are met on-time.

Here's this scenario - you have 25 min connecting time - for instance your flight has arrived late into one of the big hubs, airlines don't serve food! What do you do?! It will be even worse if you travel coast to coast!!

Oxb

If you can discover the actual arrival time for a flight, please tell the airline gate agents. They never know when a flight will be arriving or departing.

gglave

Duty-free products are meant to meet you at the jetway as you board. I find it pretty annoying how the product cart often isn't there when the plane starts to board. This is usually because the duty-free kiosk is manned by the same person who has to wheel the cart to the gate and s/he is too busy helping customers to find time to deliver the purchases.

So unless there was some guarantee that I'd be refunded my money if the food/product didn't reach me, I wouldn't trust it, due to the issues I've had with duty-free.

travelmad478

If I am sophisticated enough traveler to know about a service of this type before I fly, it would be safe to assume that I'm also travel-savvy enough to know that I need to buy a sandwich before getting on the plane. Right? If I have a tight connection and/or a long flight, I bring food with me.

Disclaimer: I am the worst consumer imaginable: knowledgeable and cheap. There are plenty of people who are neither, so maybe your idea will succeed with them.