Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 3, December 2009
Do we need the check-in process?
When Rico Barandun, Head of e-Services at Swissport, delivered an Industry Insight presentation on self-service at the Air Transport IT Summit 2009, he called it "Why do we still 'check-in' passengers?"
It was a thought provoking title. Not least because airlines have spent the last few years investing heavily in check-in technology to migrate passengers from agents to lower cost alternatives such as kiosks and the web, as well as, to a lesser extent, mobile phones.
In fact, according to the latest Airline IT Trends Survey nearly 90% of airlines will have implemented web check-in and over three-quarters kiosk check-in by the end of next year1.
But is the check-in process becoming redundant?
"Check-in is just registering for a specific flight," says Barandun. "It was definitely important when we had paper tickets. The airline had no idea who was coming and had to make sure you had a valid ticket that was paid for.
"But in the future there is really no reason to do it. We have electronic tickets. Most passengers have pre-reserved their seat," he says.
It was a view echoed by Edward Nicol, CIO of Cathay Pacific, and Patrick Naef, Head of Mercator, the IT arm of Emirates Airlines, in the July edition of Airline Business. Nicol went as far as to call it "superfluous", while Naef suggested self-service check-in was "an interim step".
According to Barandun, it is not just the airlines starting to think this way. "From discussions we've had, this is where the airports would like to go." That is no great surprise. Many airports, particularly in Europe, get more than 50% of their income from commercial activities, not aviation, so freeing up terminal space by removing check-in desks altogether provides an attractive proposition.
Information push
But what is going to replace the check-in process? "Information push will be the future," predicts Barandun. "Once the passenger has booked, the only thing we should do is give a seat-allocation push, say 48 hours in advance, followed by a boarding-pass push. Then the passengers need only turn up, drop their bags and travel."
It sounds straightforward enough, but the process clearly depends on passengers having access to a device that can receive the pushed information. Statistical evidence suggests it is not too far away. The 2009 Passenger Self-service Survey indicates that 93% of passengers carry a mobile device, while 64% booked online2, suggesting the majority of passengers have access to a computer.
There are other obstacles that could slow adoption. "Check-in is like a safety net for the airlines," says SITA's Director of Business Development for airports, Larry Kretz. "It's where they get a final chance to ensure all their own policies, as well as any government and industry regulations, have been complied with before they give the passenger a green light to fly.
"For example, airlines pay significant fines if they allow passengers with insufficient documentation to travel," he said. "That's why some international passengers still have to visit a desk counter at the airport to get their documentation validated when they have used web check-in.
"There are also many other non-standard situations like overbooked flights, last minute changes and no-shows. These types of exceptions need to be incorporated into any new passenger processing solution.
"So check-in is not going to be something that many airlines are going to feel comfortable dispensing with until there are alternative procedures in place. That's starting to happen now with kiosks taking on a lot of these interactions, but it is going to take time. It will be an evolutionary step with domestic point-to-point flights being the obvious starting point."
Financing tight
Other reasons could also hamper the vision. Financing is tight, with airlines and airports already stretched completing existing IT initiatives. That means new projects are struggling to get off the launch pad.
As Kretz points out "Automatic check-in - which is essentially what it is - will probably come in as part of a second wave of self-service initiatives once the technology that can handle the exceptions is proven. But at the moment a lot of airlines and airports are only just coming to grips with the process changes from the first wave of self-service technology."
Reducing the number of interactions passengers need to make is close to IATA's own vision of making air travel much more convenient for passengers. Paul Behan, IATA's Head of Passenger Experience can see its potential.
"For a given set of conditions, such as non-refundable tickets or high frequency of services on specific routes, removing an unnecessary hurdle for both passengers and airlines can only be a good thing," he says.
Although Behan considers a widespread shift to automatic check-in a little premature. "Whether automated check-in as a default becomes normal practice remains to be seen - a new process needs 'certainty' and at the moment there are still many factors that need consideration."
Moving forward together
Barandun readily admits there are issues that need addressing. "There needs to be cooperation - an industry, standards-based approach," he says. "We can do the learning individually, but success comes much faster if we work jointly."
He suggests an industry-led path to eliminate the check-in process. "We have had 100% e-ticketing. Why not a mandate for a 100% check-in push by a certain year?" he enthuses.
This has possibilities for Europe and North America where the maturity level of self-service makes it possible to consider its next steps. "Eventually it should be possible for 100% self-service in these markets," envisages Barandun, suggesting that even home printing of bag tags could become a realistic proposition.
What is evident is that we are only at the start of the self-service revolution. There is a strong appetite within the industry to find new ways to reduce costs and build on the increasing passenger preference for more control and convenience when flying.
However, it is equally clear that human interaction will also remain an option for those that prefer a more personal travel experience.
"There will always be a proportion of passengers who feel more comfortable or have special circumstances where it is necessary to talk directly to an airline agent. This in itself could become a differentiator so I cannot foresee any airport of the future having zero airline desks," says Kretz.
1. Go to www.sita.aero/content/airline-it-trends-survey-2009 for highlights of the 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey.
2. Go to www.sita.aero/knowledge-innovation/knowledge/industry-surveys-reports/passenger-self-service-survey-2009 for more information about the SITA / ATW Passenger Self-Service Survey.
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