Digital reliability key as travel disruptions fuel passenger anxiety

Australian travellers face heightened concerns about digital disruptions as the travel industry gears up for the busiest season of the year. Research indicates many passengers fear being stranded or experiencing delays due to system failures, impacting trust in airlines and digital booking platforms.

Travel anxiety

According to PagerDuty's 2025 Australian State of Service Report, one in four Australians reported encountering a travel or airline-related system problem in the last year. Nearly a third expect these outages to become more frequent over the coming year. Anxieties are rising, with 77% of passengers expressing concerns about being stranded or locked out of digital services during travel.

The holiday period traditionally brings record passenger volumes at Australia's biggest airports. Last year, more than 5.8 million people passed through Sydney Airport alone, with similarly high numbers in Melbourne and Brisbane. With digital systems under strain, service consistency and rapid problem resolution are becoming key priorities for operators and consumers alike.

Changing habits

The prevalence of outages and the prospect of further disruptions have prompted a shift in consumer behaviour. PagerDuty's data shows 44% of Australians have altered how they plan and book travel, increasingly favouring airlines and platforms that promise reliable digital infrastructure and responsive customer support. This trend signals a move towards providers perceived as more resilient in the face of technical difficulties.

Industry confidence is also eroding. Trust in airlines has declined by 22% over the past 12 months, reflecting growing scepticism about the sector's ability to prevent or quickly resolve digital issues. As the festive peak looms, travel companies are under pressure to address these concerns to maintain customer loyalty.

Peak risk factors

Australian airports and airlines face several technology-related risks as they ramp up for the Christmas rush. Common points of failure include online check-in systems, real-time flight status updates, mobile boarding passes, and customer service chatbots. Incidents in any of these systems can quickly cascade, causing delays, missed connections, and widespread frustration.

Ensuring reliability requires not just technical upgrades but also robust incident response capabilities. Automation of some processes, such as outage detection and ticket escalation, may serve to offset the impact of increased passenger volumes. The report suggests that organisations investing in such tools are likely to perform better when unexpected issues arise.

Building trust

"During peak season, travellers are less forgiving of digital downtime and expect instant updates when issues arise. This is a pivotal moment for the travel industry to step up, deliver reliability, and build lasting trust," said Callum Eade, Vice President Asia Pacific, PagerDuty.