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The first APEX/Crystal Cabin Award Seamless Journey shortlist brings together 17 entries exploring how the aircraft cabin can connect more closely with the wider travel experience. Major airlines, technology providers, designers and a university student offer different answers to the same question: how can each part of a trip work better with the next?
A familiar digital service that follows you onto the aircraft. A story that gets your child excited about the destination before you leave home. A boarding process that avoids a difficult transfer into an aircraft seat. The inaugural Seamless Journey shortlist approaches the passenger experience from many directions, with particular attention to the transitions that can make travel feel complicated.
Created by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) and the Crystal Cabin Award, Seamless Journey recognises concepts and solutions connecting the cabin with what happens before, between and after flights. Its first shortlist spans digital platforms, entertainment, personal service, wellbeing and accessibility.
The winner will receive the trophy on 19 November 2026 in Singapore during APEX FTE Global Expo.
Digital services account for a substantial share of the shortlist. A recurring ambition is to give passengers continuity as they move between devices, locations and stages of their trip. Air India’s Vista Digital Platform separates the digital passenger experience from the inflight entertainment hardware on which it runs. The aim is to let the airline deliver a consistent, personalised experience across seatback screens, passengers’ own devices and its wider digital channels, regardless of aircraft type.
Axinom, working with Rosen Aviation, tackles the connection between ground and onboard services through its Connected Seatback Platform, using wireless seatback screens that connect directly to the cloud. FlightPath3D Cloud Map applies cloud technology to the moving map, with delivery through an onboard server or an available inflight connectivity link and the ability to scale across screens.
A common theme among the entries: removing friction when responsibility passes from one system or provider to another. Scandinavian Airlines’ SAS Travel mode aims to create one continuous digital journey from home, through the airport and into the cabin. Seamless Journey: United’s Connected Travel Experience, submitted by United Airlines with Spotify as a cooperation partner, brings together digital tools, onboard experiences and partner services across the trip.
Sentrl Ai Inc’s Aza: Passenger Experience on Autopilot aims to identify and resolve points of friction across the airline and its partners before passengers encounter them. AeroProfile, proposed by Minugi Anthony, a student at Wichita State University, explores a passenger-controlled journey spanning identity, cabin services, disruption recovery, baggage and ground transportation.
AEROMOND, from AEROMOND FlexCo, extends that thinking to air and rail travel. Its white-label passenger service platform combines a consistent interface and simplified onboard ordering with each operator’s own branding.
Several shortlisted entries give entertainment prominent role throughout the journey, including ways to build anticipation for the destination.
Spafax’s StoryWonder, developed with Discover Airlines and KB&B Family Marketing Experts, gives children a personalised, illustrated story set at their destination. It begins at home, can be enjoyed offline in the cabin and continues after landing. Airporio uses destination-themed, seasonal, event and multiplayer gaming experiences to give airlines a channel for engaging passengers before, during and after a flight. TrueAltitude Journey brings personalised media together with live information, destination experiences and commerce in one digital platform.
Across these entries, content becomes part of the trip itself. For passengers, that could mean discovering more about where they are going or continuing an experience after arrival. For airlines and their partners, it creates opportunities to build a relationship beyond the hours spent onboard.
Several shortlisted entries focus on connection between the cabin and physical parts of the physical journey. These include approaches to personal service and wellbeing across successive stages of travel.
Air France’s La Première, the Highest Expression of Travel, submitted with cooperation partners Ducasse Paris, Porsche and Sisley, connects a private airport pathway at Paris-Charles de Gaulle with an adaptable onboard suite. Dedicated spaces, services and personal assistance merge to become one continuous travel experience. Etihad Airways: The Art of Arriving Well considers the journey from Abu Dhabi through to the destination, focusing on helping guests arrive ready for what comes next. Meanwhile, jetlite’s Chronolite explores connected lighting along the passenger journey, informed by the body’s biological rhythms.
Tadpole & Co. takes a broader service perspective with Cabin-as-a-Service (CaaS). The concept proposes managing the cabin as a passenger-experience service that is continuously developed over time. It focusses on the way an experience is maintained and improved alongside the products and services themselves.
For passengers with reduced mobility, a transition between airport and cabin can present a substantial physical barrier. Two shortlisted entries address the transfer process directly.
Lift Mobility’s The Integrated AI Human-Robotic PRM Transfer Ecosystem, submitted with NICAE Singapore and the ASEAN Disability Forum, combines the AeroSlide™ lateral-glide aisle wheelchair with the LIFT™ CEPAT-1 powered exoskeleton. The proposed approach aims to eliminate manual vertical lifting during transfers and support passenger dignity.
Toyota Boshoku’s Well-Voyage Seat, submitted with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), approaches the challenge through seat design. Individual seats would detach from their frames, allowing passengers to move without transferring between a wheelchair and an aircraft seat within the confined cabin. Both concepts draw attention to a practical test of seamless travel: how easily and comfortably a passenger can move from one part of the journey to the next, regardless of their mobility status.
The inaugural trophy will be presented at the APEX FTE Awards Ceremony at Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore on 19 November 2026. Seamless Journey is a separate distinction with its own selection process, complementing the eight main categories of the Crystal Cabin Award 2027.
Congratulations to all 17 shortlisted entrants and their cooperation partners. We look forward to celebrating the winner in Singapore.
