We like to think of ourselves as an innovative bunch over here at Qantas. We pioneered the first jet services across the Pacific in the 1950s and we’re the only airline that ever built its own aircraft.
Just as we pushed the boundaries in our early days, we’re doing the same for the future – albeit by tapping into the smarts of the current generation.
The hackers code just add caffeine
So that’s why we brought in 50 of the best tech savvy developers and innovators to collaborate with Qantas about the future of travel and what your experience as customer could look like.
They all met at the Qantas Centre of Service Excellence in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria for a hackathon to create, code and pitch a winning concept to improve the customer experience when flying with us.
So what’s a hackathon for those of you over 25?
According to Technopedia.com, a Hackathon is “a gathering where programmers collaboratively code in an extreme manner over a short period of time” to solve problems (with lots of Red Bull of course) and develop business solutions, such as apps.
After hours of hard core coding – it’s time for a quick snooze
Seamless travel was the theme for the event with teams looking at different parts of the customer journey from before to after a flight.
Teams were made up of, (and for those of you a little older – please bear with us.)
- Hipsters – the designers who create the look and feel of the app;
- Hackers – these are the brains who write the code (aka the program that makes the app work) and
- Hustlers – the salespeople who are able to turn the app into the winning pitch.
Forty eight hours later, no sleep and plenty of caffeine – the winning concept was awarded to 2 Dam Edgy with their “Transfer Buddy”, a handy app to make international transfers easier using augmented reality (think being able to find your luggage using the same technology at Pokemon Go).
What is Augmented reality? It brings the graphics that you typically see on your television screen into the real world, blurring the line between what is real and what is computer generated, by placing computer-generated graphics in your field of vision typically via your smartphone or special glasses.
We’ve also used virtual reality to help train our ground handlers over at QantasLink which you can check out here.
We think that being able to work with young developers and designers gives Qantas the opportunity to tap into what could be possible for your next flight or the one you might take in five years’ time.
Check out how our hipsters, hackers and hustlers fared below.