Article
Airline's move to self-boarding a big blip on U.S. media radar
Continental Airlines isn't saying much about its move to self-boarding at the Houston airport, but that's not stopping others from saying plenty about it themselves.
July 27, 2010 by Christopher Hall — w, t
Continental Airlines' move to open flights from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to self-boarding using self-service kiosks - a first for flights within the United States – has been pinging radars across the Internet.
First reported in USA Today, the move has been reported as far and wide as major media sites like The Huffington Post and MSNBC and more niche-oriented sites like The Consumerist and SmarterTravel.com.
According to the initial report in USA Today, travelers scan their boarding passes at a kiosk at the gate, opening up access to the jetway. A TSA spokesman told USA Today that the process "does not impact the security of the traveling public," adding that all passengers are screened at security checkpoints before getting to the gates anyway.
The practice apparently is fairly widespread internationally, with 14 airlines using self-boarding gates abroad. Aviation analyst Michael Boyd told the paper that the move was "a great idea," and that reducing employee-customer human contact is a good thing, since gate agents now have more to do than ever before to get planes ready to go.
"As long as you have someone to tell grandma where to stick the paper," he told USA Today's Roger Yu, "you're fine."
Reaction online, however, has been mixed at best, with MSNBC characterizing the move as "controversial" and talking to a former security director for Israel's El Al Airlines who says self-boarding is a bad move.
Commentary posted on the various sites has ranged from people saying the move to having you scan your own ticket won't be much different than handing your pass to someone else to have them scan it, so what's the big deal? to posters turning the discussion into a brawl between liberals and conservatives.
On The Consumerist site, one poster said, "I think it's kind of a waste of money, really. The people at the gate are usually super fast. Now a machine will slow...everything down because some people aren't really good with anything ‘automatic'…i'm (sic) usually the youngest person on my flights. There is no shortage of frail, elderly, confused people. I can't imagine all of them standing in line trying to ‘figure out' the machine."
The limited commentary on Smartertravel.com was positive, with one reader posting, "A continuous trend towards self service.... whether it be Online Travel Agencies, self service gas stations, self check-out grocery stores, mobile board passes and kiosks, this trend is unstoppable. Convenience and eventual lower costs for consumers. A win/win.'
And over at the HuffPo, a reader posted an opposing viewpoint:
‘Any reduction in human contact between employee and customer is good these days.' Huh??? There's a reason it used to be called ‘customer service.' When I travel, what I want MOST is to be treated as a person, by the person / people doing their jobs to get me there. Gate agents, people keeping the lines moving at security, flight crew, everyone -- make eye contact, be personable, and in return you will (mostly) get cooperative passengers. Fortunately, I just flew Continental to the UK and back and the staff I dealt with were great. Having a gate agent take and check boarding passes also gives them one more chance to look for potential problems -- drunks, people too sick to fly, mental illness, and yes, people who intend harm. I don't mind using the kiosk to get my boarding pass, but I want to see a human being in the process somewhere before I'm stuck in a small tin can with the other 199 passengers.
As the trend toward self-service continues to gain steam both domestically and abroad, though, it's probably a safe bet to assume we'll be seeing more of these self-boarding kiosks flying into airports across the country soon.
About Christopher Hall
Related Media
Subscribe
Get the latest news and resources from Kiosk Marketplace.
