In message Craig Welch
wrote:

Tom Peel said:

SBC News schrieb:
I travel internationally (live in the US) quite often but not exactly every
week.
What's the problem. You can just walk up to a wall to wall row of
checkin machines and be done in 10 seconds, or stand in line for hours
with 2000 other punters snaking round the tape barriers and check in the
old fashioned way. Your choice.

The OP made the point that for some people, using the self check
terminal is very difficult.

Perhaps. A lot of people don't even try, or otherwise get distracted
with "I can't do this" rather then looking at the screen.

When you are standing in front of a touch screen with only three
options, "Check in without bags", "Check in with bags" or "Only check
bags" and you can't figure out what to do, you probably shouldn't be
allowed to fly alone since you're obviously unable to take care of
yourself should an emergency situation occur.

I can understand being far more confused when there are multiple
options, or you need to enter data (and worse, correct mistakes since
the touchscreens are not always perfectly calibrated)

The systems are also not designed as well as they could be -- There are
a lot of stupid questions (what flight number, departure city, etc,
AFTER having scanned my passport. Given that I entered my passport when
I booked the flight, and only having one flight on that day, why not
jump straight to the "Is this your flight?" screen?).

In other words, I can understand needing help at some point in the
process. Not even trying isn't excusable.

My grandmother is a poster child for this, she does quite well if you
point to each line and have her read it, then she can pick the one she
wants and can navigate most interfaces without any difficulty, but on
her own, she panics and doesn't even try. It's frustrating. Maybe I'll
understand when I get older (But frankly, I hope not)

--
You can get more with a kind word and a 2x4 than just a kind word.