Photo Credit: Google Glass

As you approach Gate 3C for your Business Class flight overseas, a Google Glass-clad concierge already knows your destination, seat number, even your dietary restrictions. Welcome to the future of tech-powered travel (maybe). A recent article from Tnooz revealed an upcoming pilot program from Virgin Atlantic that will outfit airline representatives at upper class boarding gates with Google’s wearable device. If successful, the six-week trial run, currently confined to London’s Heathrow Airport, could evolve into an airline-wide campaign.

Will Virgin’s move to wearable tech spark imaginations across the travel industry? As a device that serves to further enhance a visual experience, Google Glass lends itself well to promotions and contests. Last summer, travel agency Authentic Voyages teamed up with Google to offer two contest winners the chance to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. The runners donned the wearable tech and documented their once in a lifetime experiences on YouTube.

Google Glass presents endless opportunities to travel agencies who, thanks to the growth of online research and booking, could use a boost. Agencies like Authentic Voyages are kept alive by helping their clients plan unique, complex travel experiences that would otherwise prove daunting to the average consumer. Supplementing these expeditions with Google Glass could enhance the trip even further with features like language translation, augmented reality apps to highlight nearby restaurants and historical sites, and live blogging from events and daily treks.

Google’s wearable tech is still in the explorer phase, so those interested in testing it out must apply to be selected. With these parameters in place, travel agencies, airlines, and other players in the travel sphere can create a sense of exclusivity by incorporating the Google Glass experience into their marketing message. There’s no telling where Google Glass travel marketing will go. Where do you think we’ll hear “OK, Glass” next?

UPDATE: Feedback is in from Virgin Atlantic’s experimental Google Glass program and it is overwhelmingly positive. Both the concierges donning the wearable tech and their upper class passengers responded well to the pilot program, inspiring the airline to explore a potential business model integrating wearable tech.

Aside from possible technical glitches, the greatest concern prior to implementing Google Glass was the tech’s physical intrusiveness. However, smart watches that were also introduced during the pilot program proved to be more problematic for employees who were forced to break eye contact with their customers to use the device.

This positive response to Google Glass could mean deeper product integration, possibly making its way to on board flight attendants. And with the recently announced partnership between Google and eyewear carrier Luxottica Group, we could see fashion and functionality in the near future for wearable tech.