Qatar Airways enhances mobile functionality

These have resulted in greater information available to the passenger during and after the journey, and include offering up to 12 languages on the mobile website for the ease and comfort of the customer, the Doha-based carrier has stressed.The measures had been taken to keep up with passengers’ need for continuous engagement during their pre- and post-flight experience, the airline said in a statement. "All phases of the journey have been improved on the mobile platform, from search and purchase – now with even greater online payment options, including using mileage from the member’s Privilege Club accounts – to managing the booking, including changing flights and purchasing extra baggage. Recent improvements include push notifications for advising passengers of online check-in availability, flight open for boarding and even a gate change notification for Doha flight departures," the statement explains.Passengers checking in baggage will now receive push notifications advising them of the checked baggage tag numbers, the time of baggage arriving at the carousel in Doha and the carousel number for arrivals at Doha and many other airports. Qatar Airways also pointed out that it handled 99.3% of all checked baggage, more than 19mn bags, without any disruption for the 2015-2016 financial year. For the few bags that are routed incorrectly, passengers will now receive push notifications telling them where their bag is, giving them peace of mind, the airline adds.Another key functionality introduced in the mobile app is ‘My Trips’, providing passengers with a convenient means of seeing journey details such as a timeline view, gate information, boarding time, bag tag information and an interactive virtual tour of the aircraft.Srinivasan A T, chief information officer at Qatar Airways, said: "Over the course of 2016, we made dozens of enhancements to our mobile offering, from adding payment options to adding 12 languages, all in the sincere desire to create the most convenience for the most people.”The Qatar Airways app has been downloaded 2.3mn times since its introduction in 2012, according to the airline. It is available on iTunes and Google Play for both iOS and Android platforms. Features specific to iOS include downloading the boarding pass to the wallet, Apple Pay and locally storing Privilege Club details with Touch ID authentication.Android Pay will be included in future releases, as will profile management, whereby passengers can link to their social media account, set their meal and seat preferences and other features.