DL pushing the self-serve checkin kiosks

My point exactly----for some transactions, you NEED a live human!




DL pushing the self-serve checkin kiosks

Group: rec.travel.air Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2004, 4:02pm (EST+5) From:
(Not=A0the=A0Karl=A0Orff)
In article , Olivers
wrote:
.....Somehow, requiring the presence of a "live" agent, thus unavailable
for dealing with a customer with a real problem, to help one through an
evolution no more complex than an ATM transaction seems a particularly
arrogant if not silly demand. I bet most of us could figure out how to
print out a baggage tag strip too (especially at DCA where the "double
step" from counter to the TSA luggage deposit point can occasionally
cause a traffic jam.
Ever tried CO self-serve checkin with a NW ticket on a CO flight? Can't
be done.
Ever tried NW check-in where the 1st flight is NOT on NW? Can't be done.
Ever tried international checkin on AS/QX with a non-U.S./Canadian
passport? Can't be done.

Mike Cordelli wrote:
Self Service - 30 seconds from putting in a card to boarding pass in hand,
another minute or two to drop off the luggage.

Standing in line - 45 minutes to get to the counter,

Not fair. If/when self-serve picks up, then there will also be a long line
waiting to use them. And the airlines will probably need to re-arrange their
setup so that people also queue to use them.

Just wait until grand mothers start to use those kiosks, and you'll find
yourself going to the manned check-in counters because those will now be
faster :-)

This will probably end up being similar to ATMs at banks. The one big
difference is that with airlines, the kiosks won't make you fly more often,
whereas ATMs did change banking habits (people go to ATMs more often than they
went to banks before).

Now, to the airline, the kiosks are great since they allow either reduction in
number of check-in positions (savings on staff), or increase in check-in
capacity without increasing staff.

"Clark W. Griswold, Jr." 73115 dot 1041 at compuserve dot com wrote in
message ...
If Delta follows American, in a few weeks you won't have a choice. It will
be
"Use the kiosk or don't fly."

No problem. I've been using various kiosks for the last
few months, along with a fair mix of "human" check-in.
My experience? Give me the kiosk, every time. MUCH
faster. And there have without exception been more kiosks
available than staffed check-in desks.


Bob M.

The other great thing about the kiosks is it's much easier to change
your seat... You can move around to your heart's content, instead of
dealing with an overstressed counter agent with 70 people lined up
behind you.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Self Service - 30 seconds from putting in a card to boarding pass in hand,
another minute or two to drop off the luggage.

Standing in line - 45 minutes to get to the counter, then five minutes there
while they type whatever they madly type into the terminal and take the
bags.

You are more then welcome to stand in line, less people waiting for the
kiosks.



"maryanne kehoe" wrote in message
...
While waiting in line at PHL for my return flight to ATL, the ticket
agent who had been working one of the desks asked those of us in line if
we were checking baggage and was directing us to the self-serve kiosks.

I had to politely tell her once that I "wanted to check in with a
human"! If more of us say "no" to this stuff, perhaps there will be more
DL personnel working the desks (there was only one at PHL.) Has anyone
else encountered this at other US airports with DL?

Maybe some of us prefer it this way!!

maryanne kehoe muttered....

My point exactly----for some transactions, you NEED a live human!



Ever tried CO self-serve checkin with a NW ticket on a CO flight? Can't
be done.
Ever tried NW check-in where the 1st flight is NOT on NW? Can't be done.
Ever tried international checkin on AS/QX with a non-U.S./Canadian
passport? Can't be done.

That's my point, Madame DeFarge, and if you'd take your head away from
your personal knitting for a moment....

If we would use the kiosks when we don't require human assistance there
would be a better ratio of human assistants about when we really need them.

I would suspect that the alliances and realliances present something of a
data processing problem soon within the caapcity of airlines to address if
not to "cure". After all, the nearly complete transition to Etickets was
far more speedy and easier than the prophets of doom would have us believe
it might be.

As for international flights to from the US, any automation of check in is
likely occupying low priority or "on hold awaiting the course of events"
status at the moment. In case of those poor souls not carrying US
passports, according to the Leftwardly-swung posting here, we'll simply
grant their nations statehood, forbid all foreign traffic, or make them
change planes in Gitmo instead of Atlanta...

:-P

TMO

TMO

In article ,
(Geoff Glave) wrote:

The other great thing about the kiosks is it's much easier to change
your seat... You can move around to your heart's content, instead of
dealing with an overstressed counter agent with 70 people lined up
behind you.

Webcheckin is even better. Go straight to the gate

Self-serve is fine when an airline has a permanent presence at a terminal and
can physically install those kiosks near its permanent check-in facilities.

However, are there any plans for airports to provide generic self-selve kiosks
that could be used by any airline (like SITA terminals which can connect to
whatever airline occupies the check-in desk at that time). ?

If not, then for international flights, you may find that self-check-in may
not be possible simply because the check-in area isn't "owned" but a single
airline but is shared by many airlines throughout the day.

This of airlines who only have one flight per day at one airport (for
instance, a euro carrier having a saingle daily flight to new york).

In article
,
Hilary wrote:

I've never seen more than 1 in use while I've been checking in, even in
London. There are always, however, queues at check in.

mabe more reluctance in Europe? I noticed not-brief queues for BA
checkin at FCO when there was a machine available.

AS in SEA seems to have insufficient numbers at times

Clark W. Griswold, Jr. wrote:
(maryanne kehoe) wrote:


I had to politely tell her once that I "wanted to check in with a
human"! If more of us say "no" to this stuff, perhaps there will be more
DL personnel working the desks (there was only one at PHL.) Has anyone
else encountered this at other US airports with DL?



If Delta follows American, in a few weeks you won't have a choice. It will be
"Use the kiosk or don't fly."

I haven't heard of this policy, when did it start?

Jim Anderson wrote:


I agree on CO. Went out of PWM last night and there were two agents at the
counter doing nothing and I was pointed at the kiosk. Interesting part was
I got dinged with the dreaded SSSS due to a last minute, one-way purchase
but he never asked for ID.... Scary to think of the origins of 9/11 at PWM
and they're forgetting to check ID...

I would hate to think that our security depended on an ID check.
How many different kinds of acceptable ID are there?
How difficult would it be to forge one?
Additionally, what percentage of the 9/11 people were known terrorists
at the time of boarding?