What is product bundling - and why does it work for airports?
Learn how product bundling helps airports increase revenue, personalise offers, and keep passengers in their digital ecosystem.
Airports around the world are facing increasing pressure to increase non-aeronautical revenue, personalise the passenger experience, offer premium services for customers, all without dramatically increasing costs.
One solution that delivers across all fronts is product bundling.
What is product bundling?
Product bundling is a proven commercial strategy that allows airports to package multiple services into a single, more attractive offer, often at a discount or with added value.
The key idea is simple: instead of offering products separately, you combine them in a way that’s more convenient, better value, or more relevant to the customer’s journey.
Product bundling is beneficial because it helps customers make faster decisions, increases exposure to lesser-known services, and provides a more seamless, joined-up travel experience.
Types of product bundling
Your airport can benefit from a range of product bundling strategies, depending on the services available and the goals you’re trying to achieve.
Common types include:
Pure bundling
Products are only available as a bundle, such as a fast track and lounge access package.
Mixed bundling
Customers can buy products individually or as part of a bundle, for example, parking, security and F&B offered separately or together.
Cross-category bundling
Bundles include services from different categories (e.g. parking and retail), helping drive spend across departments.
Dynamic bundling
Bundles are created in real time based on customer data, behaviour or preferences, such as tailoring packages to business or leisure passengers.
Thematic or seasonal bundling
Bundles are designed around an occasion or theme, for example, a ‘Family Holiday Package’ with parking, extra baggage and priority boarding.
Benefits of product bundling
Product bundling is a win-win for airports and passengers alike.
Here’s why it’s such an effective strategy:
Boost sales and average transaction value
By combining multiple services into a single offer, you can increase the total value of each booking. Bundles help highlight the full range of options available and make it easier for your customers to justify spending more.
Research shows that cross-selling and up-selling techniques can increase sales by 20% and profits by 30%. Consumers are more likely to buy additional products when they’re offered as part of a relevant, high-value bundle. In an airport setting, this could include pairing parking with fast-track access or lounge access with duty-free discounts.
Increase perceived value
Product bundling helps reframe how customers view price. Instead of weighing up the cost of each item individually, they focus on the overall value of the bundle, which can justify a higher total spend.
This also creates pricing opacity: passengers don’t fixate on the cost of individual items and are more likely to accept the total price when they feel they’re getting added convenience or exclusivity.
Grow awareness of underused products
Many passengers stick to what they know, missing out on services that could improve their experience. Product bundling allows you to introduce lesser-known or newer offerings by pairing them with your bestsellers.
For example, bundling a new loyalty benefit or app feature with parking or security can drive discovery and adoption without needing a separate campaign.
Sell slow-moving inventory
If you’re struggling to sell lounge access at certain times of day or underused car park inventory, product bundling gives you a way to shift that stock more effectively, especially when tied to higher-demand services.
It’s also a helpful strategy for protecting margins: instead of discounting a single product, you can offer a bundle at a better rate without diluting your value.
Build customer loyalty
Product bundling gives passengers more reasons to interact with your airport and more opportunities to find something they truly need. When customers try multiple services in one booking, they’re more likely to come back and use them again on future trips.
Over time, product bundling can help you build stronger passenger relationships, especially when it’s backed by personalisation and smart use of data.
As Joel Godfrey, Digital Product Director at CAVU, explains, the real impact comes when you understand the context of each journey and use that insight to tailor what you offer:
“We consider as many data points around the passenger’s trip as possible to serve them with the best product at the best price. We look at the logistics of the trip, like how far ahead of the date they fly a passenger is booking vs the capacity an airport has, how many people are in the party, and then use that information to present the best product for that customer.
“When passengers choose to share their data with us and open a conversation through our marketing channels, we can personalise even more, using what we know about them and their trip to tailor the right service to the right passenger.”
Examples of product bundling
Here’s how product bundling could play out in practice across different airport touchpoints:
- Pre-booking parking and fast-track
Offer secure on-site parking with fast-track security as a premium travel bundle for time-conscious passengers.
- Lounge access and food & beverage credit
Combine lounge entry with a retail or restaurant voucher to drive spend across terminal concessions.
- Retail voucher and baggage add-on
Provide a travel essentials bundle for budget passengers that includes baggage upgrades and duty-free incentives.
- Family travel package
Offer families a package with priority boarding, free kids’ meals in the terminal and discounted parking to streamline their journey.
- Business travel bundle
Create a premium package that includes valet parking, lounge access, and loyalty points, ideal for frequent flyers.
Product bundles don’t just drive revenue they also improve the passenger experience by removing friction, highlighting relevant services, and providing greater choice.
Product bundling best practices for airports
To maximise the effectiveness of product bundling, you should follow these best practices:
Align bundles with passenger requirements
Understand your passenger segments and tailor bundles accordingly. For example, business travellers value convenience and speed, while families prioritise comfort and kid-friendly services.
Make it easy to understand
Name bundles, keep components simple, and highlight benefits so customers quickly grasp the value.
Offer bundles at the right moment
Product bundling needs to be used when your customers are most likely to buy, such as during parking searches, online check-in, or pre-travel communications.
Use urgency and limited-time offers
Promote seasonal or limited-availability bundles to encourage quick decisions, e.g., “Summer Getaway Package” or “Exclusive Holiday Deal.”
Test and optimise
Measure bundle performance through A/B testing and data analytics. Refine pricing, components, and presentation based on what drives conversions.
Optimise bundles for mobile devices
Ensure bundles are easy to browse and book on mobile devices, considering the growing trend of travellers using smartphones.
Promote across channels
Advertise bundles not just on booking platforms but also on your airport’s website, email newsletters, app notifications, and in-terminal signage.
Integrate with loyalty programmes
Reward bundle purchases with loyalty points or exclusive member-only offers to deepen passenger engagement and repeat business.
Drive revenue with propel™’s product bundling capabilities
propel™ makes it easy for your airport to create, manage and optimise product bundling strategies that drive more value from every passenger interaction.
Connect your products and services, including parking, lounges and FastTrack, and get the flexibility to package them together in ways that suit both your commercial goals and your customers’ needs.
propel™ is built as a flexible, product-agnostic Marketplace. You can expand your offering beyond owned services to include third-party products, without compromising the customer experience, as explained by Joel Godfrey, Digital Product Director at CAVU:
“Because propel™ is product agnostic, this means an airport can choose to only sell products they own, or they can decide to increase their revenue by also selling other products from the Marketplace, such as eSIMs, Travel Insurance or Car Rental.
“The Single Basket facilitates this seamlessly, ensuring the customer stays within the airport’s digital ecosystem even when they buy from other vendors. The customer sees a single checkout and pays once in their local currency with their preferred payment method. Commissions earned and owed to different suppliers and partners are calculated in the background, even where products are sourced from different countries in different currencies.”
Get in touch today and discover how propel™ gives you the tools to build better bundles and turn them into results.
