Self-Serve Airports to Solve Most of Your Problems
If you have flown anywhere as of late you probably know that planes are consistently delayed and your baggage has a decent chance of being mishandled. So who is to blame? As the old mantra goes, computers don’t make mistakes, people make mistakes. At the Check-In conference in Las Vegas last weekend 300 airline and airport officials marveled at technology that takes all that human error out of the equation.
Some of that technology included kiosks by a European company called SITA that allow check-in for all major airlines off-site. In other technology a wave of a passport will show all of the flight information on a display screen. Passengers will then select a seat and print a luggage tag with an RFID transmitter. That way the airline knows via computer if the bag actually made it on the flight.
A computer software developer, Mobiqa has a software platform that sends e-mail to cell phones. The e-mail includes the same bar code you normally would see on an electronic ticket, allowing you to just scan your cellphone and go.
No matter how spot on airports and airlines are they are still stuck with one real ugly bottleneck, TSA. “We have to somehow compensate for their inefficencies,” CIO of JetBlue said to the LA Times.
Bus shuttle program FlyAway in Los Angeles allows two bags for $5 to be checked in at the pick-up points throughout the city. They even get their boarding passes at the same time. Travelers go by bus straight to screening and then to their boarding gates. TSA is inspecting the bags at the same time they find their seat aboard the plane.
Although it may be impossible to prevent delays all together, the airline industry does have control over preventing the problems that cause congestion, long lines for check-in and lost luggage.
I can see where these types of emerging technologies could be very beneficial when implemented correctly. I just hope that the airlines don’t rely on them too heavily while they are trying to make a transition. Even though the majority of the passenger population has cookie cutter needs that can be easily fulfilled, a minority may need to have a human punch a few keys to make things right in special circumstances.
[LA Times]
Related Posts:
- None
Connie T. said
am September 13 2007 @ 2:55 pm
This would’ve been perfect for our trips to India and Greece where we missed every other flight thanks to simple, human inefficiency (not our’s, mind you!). And what with all the red-level security measures these days that require a passenger to arrive at the airport 15 million hours early just to get their socks put under a microscope, this technology could not make more sense.
As for the concern you expressed in your last paragraph, it would be most unwise for airline companies to completely put their faith into this new system at any given time. There will always be a group of people that will require human assistance, you can count on that. Also, I’m wondering what would happen if the computer systems crashed?
Jerad Kaliher said
am September 13 2007 @ 4:38 pm
@Connie, your telling me. I travel so much that when I heard they were doing anything to clean up the utter mess that airports have become I was ecstatic. I think that any time you need to talk to a human your pretty much in huge trouble.
Yeah, I can only imagine if there were some major system malfunctions after it was implemented. It would only serve to confirm that airline companies can hardly do anything right these days.
Surprisingly I thought Air India wasn’t that bad when we all met up in Bombay. Sure the food wasn’t to die for but at least it got me from A to B.
Dave said
am September 15 2007 @ 7:08 am
Darn! When I saw the title and picture, I thought this was going to be about pachinko(Japanese slot machines) thoughtfully placed throughout airports.
Just joking.
This does sound great. Last year on our way home from spending Christmas in the states, all of our luggage was lost. When we reached Tokyo we were told it was still in Chicago. We spent the next three days including New Years in our pajamas.
Jerad Kaliher said
am September 15 2007 @ 8:52 am
@Dave, yeah and I bet the angelic attendants at the airlines were more than happy to resolve all of your problems in the same way they always do, by doing nothing.
Seriously though, pachinko machines in every airport would be a trip.