News

Airport kiosks criticized

April 4, 2005

The Washington Times: More and more, legacy carrier customers, once guaranteed luxuries like access to airport lounges and in-flight meals, are seeing such perks stripped away, while travelers are simultaneously getting stuck on planes and in airports for longer and longer, as well as being encouraged to interact mostly with machines. With the difference between the legacy and budget carriers narrowing, travelers will take the cheapest and fastest flight, regardless of the airline, just to get where they're going as quick as they can. "You take 5,000 or 7,000 or 10,000 people out of the loop (at an airline), that's noticeable," said Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing and entrepreneurship in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State. "It's hard to complain to a television screen kiosk." He described trying to perform tasks like checking luggage at such kiosks as "next to impossible." Click here to read the full story.