Thales Group passenger experience covers the in-flight and airport technologies that Thales builds to make air travel smoother, safer, and more personal. Its InFlyt Experience business serves more than 1 million airline passengers every day, according to Thales.
Airlines feel the stakes daily, because an unhappy passenger can switch carriers in a few taps. Technology only earns its place when passengers notice it and airlines can prove it works. In this blog, we’ll break down what Thales offers, how airlines use it, and how feedback data shows whether it pays off.
What does Thales Group do for the airline passenger experience?
Thales Group is a French technology company that supplies airlines and airports with the systems behind the passenger journey, from biometric check-in to seatback screens. Airline passenger experience means every interaction a traveler has with an airline, from booking to baggage claim.
Thales is best known for defense, aerospace, and cybersecurity. It generated sales of €22.1 billion in 2025 and employs more than 85,000 people in 65 countries, according to its 2026 half-year results.
Three names often get mixed up, so here is how they differ:
- Thales Group: The Paris-headquartered parent company across defense, aerospace, cybersecurity, and digital technologies.
- Thales InFlyt Experience: The business unit that builds in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) systems, meaning the seatback screens, streaming, and Wi-Fi services on board.
- Thales airport solutions: Ground-based tools for smart security, biometric journeys, and operations.
Thales InFlyt Experience and other passenger technology at a glance
Thales passenger experience technology falls into three groups: on-board platforms, airport biometrics, and passenger information tools. The table shows where each one acts.
| Solution | Where it acts | What passengers get |
|---|---|---|
| InFlyt360 platform | In the cabin | Personalized content and services driven by data |
| FlytEDGE | In the cabin | Cloud-based seatback entertainment with a 4K display and Bluetooth pairing |
| Fly to Gate | At the airport | A touchless biometric journey from check-in to boarding |
| Thales Travel Assistant | On the seatback screen | Flight status, connecting gates, meal service, and destination details |
How InFlyt360 and FlytEDGE personalize the cabin
InFlyt360 is the digital platform behind Thales in-flight entertainment systems. Thales says it applies machine learning and matching algorithms to raise engagement and personalization, as explained in its InFlyt360 overview.
FlytEDGE is the newer step. It is cloud-native, meaning it runs and updates like a web service instead of fixed on-board software. It sits on an Onboard Data Center with 96TB of storage and a recommendation engine, reports PAX International. The storage supports edge caching, which keeps popular content close to the seat. Airlines can push updates to one aircraft or a full fleet, according to Thales.
How Fly to Gate biometrics work at the airport
Fly to Gate is the Thales touchless biometric journey through the airport. It follows the IATA One ID concept of a document-free trip. Biometrics are measurable physical traits, such as a face, used to confirm identity.
- The passenger checks in remotely through the airline app.
- A selfie, a document check, and liveness detection (a test that the face belongs to a live person, not a photo) verify identity.
- The system creates a temporary digital token for that passenger.
- The passenger’s face then works as the ticket at check-in, bag drop, security, passport control, and the gate.
Thales reports that the solution cuts passport control and boarding times by an average of 30%, according to its press release.
What the Thales Travel Assistant adds
The Thales Travel Assistant arrived in December 2020 as part of the Ready to Fly portfolio, which aimed to reduce physical contact between passengers and crew. Airlines can configure it to show flight status, connecting gate details, meal service, and destination information on the seatback screen, according to Runway Girl Network.
How airlines use Thales passenger technology today
Airlines use Thales technology to solve three concrete problems: dull flights, inaccessible screens, and information gaps. Three examples show how.
Delta Air Lines: A cloud-based seatback
Delta plans to bring FlytEDGE into its next-generation Delta Sync seatback experience on select new aircraft deliveries starting in 2026, according to Delta News Hub. The setup pairs cinematic 4K screens with Bluetooth for wireless headphones.
Emirates and American Airlines: Accessible interfaces
Thales built a seatback interface for blind and low-vision passengers with the American Printing House. It already flies on Emirates and American Airlines, according to PAX Tech. For the service side of the story, see the American Airlines passenger experience strategy.
SriLankan Airlines: Live news and weather
SriLankan Airlines was the first airline worldwide to offer the Thales InFlyt Experience Live News and Weather application, per Thales. It shows how connected apps can keep passengers informed mid-flight.
How do airlines measure passenger satisfaction with new technology?
Airlines measure airline passenger satisfaction by asking travelers at the moment of experience and tracking the same metrics over time. Three metrics do most of the work.
| Metric | What it measures | Best moment to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Net Promoter Score (NPS) | Likelihood to recommend the airline on a 0 to 10 scale, reported as promoters minus detractors | After landing |
| Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) | Satisfaction with one touchpoint, such as boarding or the seatback screen | Right after that touchpoint |
| Customer effort score (CES) | How easy a task was, such as rebooking or connecting to Wi-Fi | After the task ends |
Wider benchmarks add context. The J.D. Power 2026 North America Airline Satisfaction Study surveyed 10,914 passengers and found overall satisfaction rose 8 points on a 1,000-point scale. It scores seven dimensions, including digital tools and on-board experience.
A Q1 2025 benchmark of 1,000 U.S. passengers put the airline industry average NPS at 33, as covered in this airline NPS benchmark analysis. Scores show that something moved, not why. Overlaying them on journey mapping software reveals which touchpoint, from check-in to landing, drags a score down.
How QuestionPro helped Thales collect in-flight feedback
Thales partnered with QuestionPro to build a survey layer on its Android-based in-flight entertainment devices, so airline customers could gather feedback close to the point of experience. According to the Thales case study, the challenge was real-time feedback from many journey touchpoints. It had to run on existing IFE architecture at a cost airlines could justify.
The solution covered four areas:
- Managing surveys and moving response data from aircraft to the cloud.
- Integrating the system with the IFE architecture while meeting U.S. and European privacy laws, including GDPR.
- Linking passenger experience with employee engagement.
- Analyzing the journey across passenger segments and cabin classes.
The result reached more than 80 airlines, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, and American Airlines. Thales gained a licensing model at one-third of the capital cost. Airlines could separate promoters, passives, and detractors and respond to passengers before complaints reached social media.
Airlines without an IFE integration can run the same loop through QuestionPro Customer Experience, which pairs touchpoint surveys with dashboards that flag detractor patterns.
How to choose passenger experience technology in five checks
Airlines should choose passenger experience technology by testing it against integration, privacy, personalization, accessibility, and measurable outcomes. Each check below removes a common source of regret.
- Check integration.
Confirm the platform runs on your existing systems. The Thales feedback build succeeded because it sat on top of the Android-based IFE stack already in place. - Confirm privacy compliance.
IATA guidance says passengers should give informed consent, share minimal data, and be able to opt out of biometrics. - Look for personalization that adapts.
Over-the-air updates and usage analytics show whether features change with passenger behavior. - Test accessibility.
Screen-reader-style interfaces should work for blind and low-vision travelers, not only for the average flyer. - Demand a feedback loop.
Choose tools that connect to survey software so satisfaction data arrives alongside usage data.
The trade-offs of technology-led passenger experience
Technology can shorten queues and personalize flights, but it also adds privacy, cost, and service risks. Weighing both sides helps airlines avoid the most common mistakes.
What passengers and airlines gain
- Shorter waits at checkpoints when biometric flows replace repeated document checks.
- Entertainment and information tailored to each traveler.
- Accessible interfaces for passengers who are blind or have low vision.
- Faster feedback loops when surveys run at the point of experience.
What can go wrong
- Biometric programs raise privacy and consent concerns, so airlines need clear opt-outs.
- Automation that replaces human help frustrates passengers during disruptions.
- Feedback that nobody reads or acts on wastes passengers’ goodwill.
- Custom integrations add cost and upkeep, especially across mixed fleets.
Why feedback decides what the technology is worth
Thales shows how far cabin and airport technology can go, from cloud-native screens to face-based boarding. Screens and biometrics only create the conditions for a good trip, though. Passengers decide whether the experience works, and only feedback collected in the moment shows it.
Airlines that pair new technology with steady listening spot problems sooner. They also fix them before passengers post about them.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Passenger experience covers every interaction across the journey, from booking to baggage claim. Passenger satisfaction is the measured result, usually captured through scores like CSAT or NPS. Experience is what airlines design, and satisfaction shows how well the design worked.
Ask about content variety, screen quality, ease of navigation, connectivity reliability, and likelihood to recommend. Keep it under ten questions so passengers finish it. The airline flight survey template offers ready-made wording to start from.
Airlines surveying passengers in Europe must follow GDPR, which requires a lawful basis, clear notice, and minimal data collection. U.S. carriers flying to Europe face the same duty, and the Thales integration was built to meet both U.S. and European rules.
Send a short survey to a sample of passengers after every flight, then review results quarterly against a benchmark. Continuous collection catches problems like a failing seatback system quickly, while quarterly reviews show whether fixes actually moved satisfaction.
Staff shape how passengers judge a flight, and J.D. Power scores airline staff as one of seven satisfaction dimensions. Pairing passenger surveys with crew feedback shows whether technology helps employees serve passengers or gets in their way.
