Google Glass worn by Virgin Atlantic staff to assist passengers at London’s Heathrow airport

In an effort to make its airline service more glamorous and personalized, Virgin Atlantic is equipping some of its concierge staff with Google Glass at London’s Heathrow airport.

The six-week trial will be used to take Upper Class passengers through the check-in process, provide updates about their flight and answer any queries about their destination, including as the local weather, events or translating information supplied in another language.

If the test is successful, Virgin Atlantic will consider a wider roll-out and also use the device to keep its staff notified of passengers’ dietary requirements and other personal preferences related to their flight.

The head-mounter computer is being introduced after a Virgin-backed survey found that over half of travelers worldwide think that flying is less glamorous or exciting than it was in years gone by. The originality and scarcity of Google Glass – there is nothing quite like it, and it’s still not a commercial product – makes it a good fit in this regard, although clearly there’s an opportunity to use the hardware to improve the customer experience too.

The implementation is also another example of how Google Glass could be used for professional purposes. A recent video shot by Google illustrated how it could be used by firefighters to bring up maps and schematics on the ground. It’s also being used by doctors and surgeons to improve procedures and patient care.

While Google Glass is being billed as a product for the masses – the introduction of its new Titanium Collection frames is further evidence of this – it’s promising to see that the wearable device is already impacting the enterprise space.

Image Credit: Virgin