by Worldroom Travel Digest
November 2003

Travelers returning to the skies this Thanksgiving will encounter more people in the ticket lines - and far fewer people behind the ticket counters.

Still recovering from the travel fall-off in the United States and coping with additional security measures instituted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, airlines are installing a record number of check-in kiosks this year, as they race to make the machines more available to wait-weary passengers and trim their own personnel costs.

The machines also are getting more versatile. Kiosks that could previously only print boarding passes can now automatically rebook passengers who have missed flights, let them choose a seat, and spit out coupons that can be redeemed for a beer or headphones onboard.

"The capability of the software will make these stations something that will be increasingly a one-size fits all," said Jim Brown , a spokesman for Kinetics, a Lake Mary, Florida-based company that builds and installs the machines for 10 airlines. His company expects to install 1,500 of them in 2003, up 50 percent from last year.

Still, kiosks have their drawbacks. Passengers going overseas or checking more than two bags are generally out of luck, doomed to wait in line to see a ticket agent. And because the kiosks have become so prevalent, real live people behind ticket counters are fewer and farther between, meaning passengers could have a long wait to see one.

"They will never take care of absolutely everyone," Brown said.

Wayne Morris, 62, of Boston, said at Logan International Airport this week that he was among those the kiosks will never satisfy.

"They're not user-friendly," he said, after waiting 20 minutes in line to see a human check-in agent at the Delta Air Lines counter.

"Older people need somebody to talk them through the process, and I like the personal touch."

Forrester Research in San Francisco estimates more than 3,000 kiosks are in use in the United States.

Passengers who use the machines say that the biggest advantage is time saved. A spokeswoman for Delta, Katie Connell, said it took users of that airline's machines less than two minutes to check in at a kiosk on average, compared with an average of 10 minutes to check in with a human being.

"I try to use the kiosk because of the obvious," said Stan Cohn, a businessman from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, who waited at Logan airport on Monday to pick up his boss.

"It's significantly quicker because you do it all yourself and it takes care of all the incidentals for you."

Nikki Brush, from Park City, Utah, says she seeks out kiosks at every airport.But her companion, Sean Rayner, said he was sticking with curbside check-in.

"A lot of times, you have to carry your own bags to security after using kiosks," he said. "Skycaps will do that for you."

Rayner's aversion points out one of many shortcomings of the kiosks. Since most of the machines cannot read the magnetic strips on passports, international travelers generally cannot use kiosks to check in. Passengers who need to check more than two bags will usually have to wait to see a human agent as well. And the kiosks do not accommodate unaccompanied children younger than age 15 in most cases.

But in general, passengers can skip the check-in line, swipe a credit card or frequent-flier card through a slot on the side of a kiosk and follow a series of prompts to check-in for their flight. Most machines let travelers check up to two bags and choose their own seats, and some airlines have been adding more advanced features.

Continental's machines let travelers buy coupons for in-flight beverages, while machines for US Airways, Delta, Continental and United allow passengers to rebook themselves if they have missed flights. In some cases, the machines will automatically rebook a passenger on the next available flight if the first is canceled due to bad weather or mechanical problems.

Still, the kiosks' limitations will have to be eliminated if the airlines want them to be truly successful, said Henry Harteveldt, principal analyst at Forrester Research. "It's really important that people recognize that kiosks will help 80 percent of the people now," he said. "That's not acceptable.