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Self-service saving the travel industry 'billions of dollars'

November 20, 2006 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

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For British Airways, self-service has been an unqualified success.

British trade publication Computing is reporting that BA saw 80 percent of its traffic last week go through self-service check-in. A company representative said that's well ahead of the company's schedule, as is the move to paperless ticketing, which is now at 90-percent customer-adoption rate.

Good news regarding airlines and self-service has been coming fast and furious in recent weeks; just a few short days ago, Air Canada announced that it was saving some major money through the use of self-service. (The company said it spends 16 cents to check a traveler in through a kiosk, versus $3 through a staffed counter.) And a recent report by SITA stated that the airline industry's move toward self-service is saving it billions of dollars.

All of that begs the inevitable question: When are other service industries such as foodservice going to sit up and take notice of the money to be saved and the operational efficiencies to be realized through self-service?

About James Bickers

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James Bickers is the former senior editor of Retail Customer Experience, and also manages webinars for Networld Media Group. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist and innovative content strategist, with publication credits in national, international and regional publications.

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