Enhancing Customer Experience: A Case Study on Overland Airline System

This case study examines Overland Airways' efforts to enhance its airline reservation system in Nigeria. The study identifies limitations in the original system, such as the inability for passengers to select seats online or print boarding passes, leading to customer dissatisfaction. The implementation of a new system, built using PHP, HTML, CSS, and MySQL, addresses these issues by enabling online seat selection, boarding pass printing, and real-time flight updates. The new system also provides access to aircraft maintenance reports, improving transparency and passenger safety. The study recommends incorporating social media integration to further enhance customer engagement and attract new passengers. The goal is to provide better service to the customers and build a market for themselves.

Running head: AIRLINE RESERVATION SYSTEM
Airline Reservation System
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The objective of this report is to choose an IT project and discuss its content in details. The topic
of this case study is about an airline reservation system based in Nigeria known as the ‘Overland
Airlines’. In the introduction of the paper, a brief overview is given about how airlines have
become an integral part of our travel journey and how the mentioned airline is providing services
to their customers. In the following section of the paper, the shortcomings are discussed for
which the ‘Overland Airlines’ failed to be an efficient system. The new methodologies, its
beneficiary effects in the system are discussed henceforth, and a recommendation is given for the
same. Lastly, the paper concludes with a summary how the airline system improved itself based
on customer satisfaction.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Limitations.......................................................................................................................................3
Implementation................................................................................................................................4
Benefits............................................................................................................................................5
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
In today’s world where people are extremely busy and are multi-tasking in order to meet
their needs, travelling fast worldwide is a major phenomenon nowadays. People can afford to
travel fast around the world only by the aerial mode of transport, the airplanes. Gone are those
days when people used to hire travel agents to book their flights for vacation purposes.
Travelling by airplanes is a necessity nowadays to attend important business meetings or meet
any professional commitment. Hence, airline reservation system allows passengers to book their
own flight as per their needs, take update about flight timings and cancel booking at ease as per
the requirements [1]. An airline company, the ‘Overland Airways’ has brought innovations in
their system to bring about customer satisfaction. This project is about the identification of the
limitations of the ‘Overland Airways’ and implementation of new features keeping in mind the
benefits that can be enjoyed by the customers.
Limitations
An efficient airline reservation system should have the following smart technological
features to attain customer satisfaction through their digitally enhanced services. The primary
feature of an airline booking system is to be able to book, change or cancel the flights online, via
mobile applications or internet websites [2]. People nowadays are quite busy in their daily life
schedule and thus prefer doing things digitally by using smart phones or laptops. Previously,
people used to depend on the travel agents to help them in booking their flights. In return, the
agents took a certain amount of money for their own effort. Thus, if the airline reservation
system provides this online booking feature one can complete the procedure of booking a flight
with just an Internet connection available at their smart devices. It should also provide post-
booking services such as changing the seats according to their preference and cancel the
bookings or change flights according to their suitable time [2]. Airline reservation system should
also provide multiple payment options like net banking or credit and debit cards for the
customers to make their payments digitally. Lucrative offers like discount on the price of flights
or cash back offers should be available for regular passengers such that they might show interest
in using the services on a daily basis [12]. However, the reservation system must generate an

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automated feature by which it can store the card details of a customer on its first transaction. In
this way, it proves to be timesaving for the customer while he makes his next bookings, as he
does not have to repeat the same procedure repeatedly.
In the given case study of ‘Overland Airlines’, there existed certain limitations which did
not establish the company as an efficient one. It provided the basic features where the customers
can search for their flights, choose among the preferred ones and pay for the same [3]. However,
there was no technological advancement in their functioning. The passengers could book their
flights online, but could not select their preferable seats from the existing system. Previously, the
customers had to stand in the check-in counter to assign themselves seats before boarding on the
plane, which was considered a waste of time in their busy lifestyle. The passengers also did not
have the facility to print their boarding pass from the existing system and hence they had to
travel all the way to the check-in-counter to take their boarding passes. Since the airline
reservation system was not digital, it restricted the company to send information to their
passengers about the delay or cancellation of flights, which was a cause of suffering for them.
Another limitation of the existing system was that the passengers suffered a non-awareness of the
aircraft maintenance reports before their travelling time to ensure about their safety [3]. All these
points summarized to make the existing airline system of the company to be unsatisfactory.
Implementation
The main reason for designing a new Airline Reservation System is to overcome the
limitation it had previously. This focus of the new process is on speeding up the boarding
process of the passengers as well as strengthening the bond between airline and their passengers.
From the perspective of business, this new system also helping the airline to streamline their
reservation system with less human interaction in the system. Thus making the process faster.
The methodology behind this system is mainly based on allowing passengers to be more
customized with their own choices. The most eye-catching factor was allowing them to choose
their preferred seat in the flight. To increase more transparency this new system also let the
passengers access the maintenance report of the aircraft. On the other hand, this system also
updates the passengers in case of flight delays or cancellations.

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This system is designed based on PHP. The user interface is made by HTML and CSS.
These are the most user friendly as well as widely accepted for designing web based user
interface [4]. In the background the database system that is being used MySQL [6]. The whole
system is divided into these two vital parts where the front end, user interface is based on PHP
programming language and the back end database work is maintained in MySQL. The whole
system design is created using WAMP that is made up of windows as operating system, Apache
as database connector and communicator with operating system, MySQL the database system
provider and PHP as the language for the front end user interface [5].
Now from the front-end perspective this complete system is divided into two sections
which includes administrator section and passenger section [11]. The administrator section can
only be accessed by the people of the airline who have the privilege to insert details in the system
like flight details and schedule flights along with destination city, source city, time of travel,
arrival time and departure time. Administrator section also have the privilege of seeing passenger
details of a particular flight or who has bookings with the airline. Whereas passenger section is
only having the search facility to search their feasible and desired flights by entering their
choices like destination and start point and travel dates. Passenger section is also designed to let
the passengers book their preferred seats of their feasible flights according to their search.
Benefits
Online flight reservation system provides accessibility to the passengers in their website
such that they can book or cancel flights online and save time from their busy routine [7]. In
addition, they can modify their flight timings or get information about their flight status and
update themselves to the changing scenario of their flights.
In the case study of ‘Overland Airlines’ flight reservation system, the primary focus of
the company was to implement digital features to ensure customer satisfaction [8]. The already
subsisting system of the company was providing basic features, which did not attain customer
satisfaction to the fullest. To give high competition to the other airline companies and create a
goodwill in the market, the mentioned airline company implemented new smart features that
ensured customer content.

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Among the new features installed, the customers could check the reserved seats before
booking and determine his empty seat preferences while travelling. Previously, the passengers
had to stand in the queue to select their respective seats unlike now, where the passengers can
book and determine his seats online via Internet Connection [9]. They also can print their
boarding passes according to their suitable time without having to stand in the check in counter
in the new reservation system, which was a tiresome job for them. The passengers can now get
notifications about their flight details through the company’s website and know beforehand about
flight cancellation and delays. Aircraft maintenance is a major checkpoint where the accuracy in
the functioning of the flights are checked before the boarding of the passengers [10]. However,
the passengers did not receive any information about the status of the aircraft system. After the
implementation of the features in the new reservation system, the passengers can access reports
on aircraft maintenance and be ensured about their safety in flights.
Recommendation
The online flight reservation system of the ‘Overland Airlines has implemented some
innovative changes in their system for customer benefit and satisfaction. It is recommended that
the system add another feature that would help them share the social status of their flights.
Recognizing the profuse Internet connection nowadays, people can share their location, the
things they are buying, and the places they are travelling and so on through their social media
sites. Hence, if they can share their flight details to their known contacts, that would be an
advantage for the company itself to draw new passengers in and perform better than the other
airline companies.
Conclusion
Airline Reservation Systems are modifying themselves and implementing new features to
provide better service to the customers and build a market for themselves. In this case study of
‘Overland Airlines’, the company implemented some noticeable changes to attract their
customers to improved facilities. This paper is about the shortcomings of the existing company
that the company analyzed to overcome them and improve themselves in the market. The
implementations are discussed in details, following which the beneficiary changes are mentioned
in the paper for awareness of the new features. In conclusion, a recommendation is made for
implementation of a new feature in the mentioned airline system.

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References
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development. development, 3(10), pp.1-3, 2016.
[2] G.N. Okeudo and I.A. Nwokoro, Enhancing Airlines Operations through ICT Integration into
Reservation Procedures: An Evaluation of Its Prospects in Nigeria. Journal of Economics,
Management and Trade, pp.190-199, 2015.
[3] O. Abisoye Blessing, A. Umar, and A. Abisoye Opeyemi, Challenges of airline reservation
system and possible solutions (A case study of overland airways), 2017.
[4] A.O. DAVID, Design and Implementation of an Online airline Reservation Information
System, 2016.
[5] A.M. Hassan and S.T. Olabosinde, Analysis of Impact of Facilities on Operational
Performance of Airports In Nigeria. AGOGO: Journal of Humanities, 3, pp.22-25, 2017.
[6] P. Gautam, Online Airline Ticketing System, 2015.
[7] S. Borenstein, The evolution of US airline competition. In Low Cost Carriers (pp. 1-31).
Routledge, 2017.
[8] R. Pindžo and L. Brjaktarović, Digital transformation of tourism. In TISC-Tourism
International Scientific Conference Vrnjačka Banja (Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 340-355), 2018, May.
[9] O. Singh, Demonetisation and Digitalization in India. International Journal of Academic
Research and Development, UGC, (48808), 2017.
[10] G.G. George, AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE HANGAR. Journal of Industrial Design and
Engineering Graphics, 12(1), pp.17-20, 2017.
[11] A. Fadhil, Domain specific design patterns: Designing for conversational user
interfaces. arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.09055, 2018.
[12] E. Lomo-David, FEATURES IN BOOKING ENGINE INTERFACES THAT MOTIVATE
CUSTOMERS TO USE ONLINE COMPUTER-BASED RESERVATIONS

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SYSTEMS. Copyright 2019 by Institute for Global Business Research, Nashville, TN, USA,
p.57, 2019.