News

Northwest has kiosks in more airports than any other carrier

December 26, 2002

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Following an aggressive deployment campaign of up to 15 airports a week, Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq: NWAC) says that it now has check-in kiosks -- which it calls E-Service Centers -- at 139 airports throughout the U.S. and Canada, more than any other airline.

"In November alone, more than one million Northwest customers, many of them holiday travelers, busted through airport lines by taking advantage of nwa.com Check-In and our E-Service Centers," said Dirk McMahon, senior vice president of customer service, in a news release.

The carrier expects usage of the kiosks to grow, following the implementation of a new U.S. Transportation Security Agency (TSA) policy that will require all customers to have a boarding pass before passing through security checkpoints.

In the first few weeks of the new requirements being implemented at Northwest's WorldGateway at Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul hubs, the carrier saw an increase in the usage of both its E-Service Centers and nwa.com Check-In.

In October, Northwest was the first airline to announce the availability of self-service check-in for flights from the U.S. and Canada to all of its destinations in Asia, the Caribbean, and nearly all of them in Europe. In the first five weeks since its launch, almost 24,000 international flyers obtained their boarding pass through nwa.com Check-In or an E-Service Center, according to the release.

The carrier is offering a special promotion to boost usage of both the kiosk and Internet check-in options. Through April 30, 2003, first time users of either option who are also members of Northwest's WorldPerks frequent flier program will receive a one-time bonus of 1,000 miles for checking in at either an E-Service Center or through nwa.com Check-In. First time users can earn up to 2,000 miles total for trying both options, according to the release.