Air New Zealand is focusing more of its attention on passengers traveling with a bag and how their journey can be simplified. While the airline has made some significant advancement with self tagging and bag drop, it has opened up a range of new opportunities to improve the experience for customers getting their bag to the airline and managing the journey of the bag.

The Air New Zealand experience is that check-in is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the customer. As the airline’s customers are now able to receive their boarding passes at time of purchase, or through their mobile devices, or as they are actually boarding the aircraft, the need for the customer to check-in has effectively been removed. As a result, Air New Zealand is focusing more of its attention on passengers traveling with a bag and how their journey can be simplified. While Air New Zealand has made some significant advancement with self tagging and bag drop, it has opened up a range of new opportunities to improve the experience for customers getting their bag to the airline and managing the journey of the bag. “I believe that most airlines should be past the stage of thinking about if they need a self-service strategy, but rather how they go about designing and implementing one,” said Todd Grace, Strategy Manager – Airports, Air New Zealand. “I hope to be able to share some of the innovations we have developed, the lessons we have learnt, as well as the benefits we are seeing from changing our business model.”

The airline’s experience to date is that customers are extremely capable and want to manage their own travel. If offered a solution that is intuitive and provides travelers with benefits in both time and choice, then they will embrace the new service and quickly migrate away from traditional travel patterns. He believes that it is, therefore, important that the solution is customer-centric and focuses on providing value to the customer. “It is not simply a technology solution. It requires an airline to review the operational procedures that support all airport activity,” explained Grace. “Within a few months we quickly began to see the other benefits that flowed from a successful self-service strategy. In addition to the benefits brought by having increased customer satisfaction, we saw more productive use of terminal space, greater efficiencies in resource allocation and planning, greater engagement by airport staff, as well as a positive effect on brand awareness for the airline.”

Pure self-service experience

Grace: "At Auckland many customers without baggage choose to bypass check-in and just board the aircraft. For those customers with baggage, the kiosk solution allows them to change a flight if they wish, check-in, change seats, pay for any excess baggage, and print their bag tags. Once the customer has tagged their bag, they simply place it on a baggage belt and the bag is sent airside.”

Air New Zealand has varying degrees of automation at its airports, but at the domestic terminal in Auckland it has been able to offer the most pure self-service experience. This is due to it being the gateway for travel within New Zealand, so all of the customers are making domestic journeys. “At Auckland many customers without baggage choose to bypass check-in and just board the aircraft. For those customers with baggage, the kiosk solution allows them to change a flight if they wish, check-in, change seats, pay for any excess baggage, and print their bag tags. Once the customer has tagged their bag, they simply place it on a baggage belt and the bag is sent airside,” said Grace. “While the bag is on the baggage belt we carry out a number of security and operational processes so that by the time the bag reaches the baggage loaders, it is ready for acceptance onto the aircraft. This is all carried out without the intervention of any staff, however, they are always available for any assistance or troubleshooting.”

While kiosk check-in is responsible for managing the majority of Air New Zealand's customer journeys, the airline is seeing an increasing number of customers bypass the kiosks altogether and head straight to the aircraft.

The proportion of Air New Zealand’s passengers using self-service check-in is increasing. Following the launch of its domestic product, the airline reached its 80% self-service target three days after going live. That has continued to grow to the stage that the number of full-service customers traveling within its domestic network has reduced to a trickle. “While kiosk check-in is responsible for managing the majority of our customer journeys, we are seeing an increasing number of customers bypass the kiosks altogether and head straight to the aircraft,” explained Grace. “When we launched kiosk check-in from Auckland to all of our Australian destinations, we saw a similar growth in uptake. It has reinforced our view that it is a product that provides a level of service that is valued by our customers and gives us the confidence to continue our deployment program.”

When designing its current airport experience, Air New Zealand’s goal was that the customer journey should be as simple as most other forms of public transport. It has gone a long way towards achieving that with its domestic network. “On our international routes we still face some significant challenges. When traveling across border, the requirement for customers to provide their personal data to multiple governmental agencies throughout their journey is both time-consuming and inefficient for everyone involved. Airlines, airports and border agencies need to work together to make for a streamlined process for the customer to easily pass through the border,” said Grace. “The future experience also needs to be designed with the focus on providing the consumer with greater choice. Options for bag drop in convenient accessible locations, not dictated by the needs of the airline or the airport, but rather in the location where the customer would most value them.”

The need for all operators in the airport community to jointly develop processes and be able to share data on a common platform is key to achieving the next step change in the airport journey. The development of RFID, mobile and biometric technologies has enabled a vast range of innovative solutions to be developed for our customers. “We are seeing a lot of that innovation coming from airlines, as well as some airports and border agencies. The risk we face is that this is done in isolation and the optimum solution for the customer is not realized,” concluded Grace.

Each AirportConnect kiosk is capable of printing bag tags, but progress is still being made to implement this at KLIA.

Malaysia Airports will host the inaugural Check-in Asia conference and exhibition at the Pan Pacific, Kuala Lumpur, on 24-26 November 2010 – a new check-in forum specifically for the Asia Pacific region. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is also one of the first Asia Pacific airports to become 100% BCBP (bar coded boarding pass) capable – one of several IATA Simplifying the Business (StB) projects now live at the airport in collaboration with Malaysian Airlines and SITA. Louise Driscoll reports.

IATA’s 65th Annual General Meeting at KLIA from 7-9 June was an opportunity to showcase the airport’s adoption of the latest self-service technologies – achieved in collaboration with IATA, SITA and the airport’s home carrier, Malaysian Airlines.

One key element of StB has been KLIA’s move to 100% bar coded boarded passes earlier this year – a further milestone for IATA, which has already achieved an industry standard for 2D bar codes.

Mohd Aminuddin Yaakub, general manager, Malaysia Airports Technologies, said: “Having already implemented CUSS in our check-in operations, it was the next logical step for us to adopt IATA’s BCBP standard. Before this was implemented passengers using internet check-in had to validate their boarding passes before leaving the departure lounges.” IATA believes that CUSS is now mature, given the wide adoption of web and mobile check-in platforms.

At KLIA passengers are now able to print IATA standard 2D bar coded boarding passes via the web, mobile phone, CUTE workstation or using SITA’s new fully functional CUSS AirportConnect kiosk, which is designed to take up half the space of a conventional kiosk. The first of these were launched and demonstrated at the airport during IATA’s AGM. Each kiosk is capable of printing bag tags, but progress is still being made to implement this at KLIA.

Next year, IATA aims to meet key targets for bar coded boarding passes and across its other initiatives: IATA e-freight, Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP) and the Fast Travel Programme.

Paul Behan, IATA’s head of the passenger experience, said: “72% of all boarding passes meet the IATA 2D standard now. Our target is 100% by the end of 2010.” The focus will be on achieving standards across the remaining projects and then mass implementation across the programme, he added.

Self-boarding standards

At KLIA passengers are now able to print IATA standard 2D bar coded boarding passes via the web, mobile phone, CUTE workstation or using SITA’s new fully functional CUSS AirportConnect kiosk.

The self-service standards in IATA’s Fast Travel programme aim to capture the major touch points of a passenger’s journey: bags ready to go (where passengers can print their baggage tags from a kiosk ready for an agent), document scanning (using a self-service kiosk), self-boarding (automated ID checks at a kiosk) and bag recovery (using a kiosk to report a missing bag).

Among the projects is IATA’s continual development of self-boarding standards. KLIA has been involved in trials for Etihad and Malaysia Airlines passengers, who were able to self-scan their boarding passes and board the aircraft following positive identification. Trials were limited to domestic routes, enabling large volumes of passengers to test the technology. Feedback from passengers has been positive, reports Aminuddin, but there is still some work to be done with the scanner technology where identification checks require passengers to show a boarding pass and passport. “Having a scanner is not beneficial and the process is under review. With the right combination and location of scanners, integration with an airline’s DCS and possibly some biometric identification, self-boarding can be successful.”

Behan added: “This is a known technology but is new to the airport environment – we are starting to see hotspots appear and our job is to consolidate that and ensure delivery at airports.”

IATA’s target is 10 airlines capable of self-boarding at the gate by the end of 2009 and with one airline using automated ID checks as required for international travel.
Under IATA’s Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP), which focuses on minimising baggage mishandling, KLIA is focused on further improving its automated baggage handling system. The process involves scanning baggage tags for sorting and matching the tag with Baggage Source Messaging data received from an airline’s departure control system. An IT upgrade will address how to optimise the scanning and sorting process and further improve their baggage tracking record, he said.

For the last two years, the airport has been focusing on RFID as a tool to improve the baggage handling process, but this is not the solution, said Aminuddin. “With the uncertain costs of RFID to airlines, no progress has been made with RFID. A more realistic focus will be to measure the queue time for passengers at service points – to measure service rates and identify opportunities for further improvement. The other focus will be driving the self-service process from check-in to boarding.”
He added: “Our collaborations between IATA and SITA have been essential to the success of the project. The commitment of the local Airline Operations Committee has also been crucial and their part in sharing the StB objective for KLIA and supporting our activities.”

Lamkin: “We have been doing some work looking at alternative ways of connecting with the reservation system wirelessly. Once we’ve got a technology in place, we can use queue-busting devices. I very much see WiFi connections and wireless interfaces as the way forward for check-in systems.”

Lamkin’s challenge to CUTE suppliers is to provide a wireless network alongside all the bells and whistles that legacy carriers need. “The way we check-in today – the CUTE and common user process – is geared towards the legacy carriers. We check-in on expensive printers that we don’t fully need. Why do we need all this equipment and why can’t we check-in using a web-based system? LCC’s don’t need expensive printing devices, we just need a simple printer that can produce a boarding token. The ideal solution for us is internet check-in,” he said.

What can be done to streamline the process? According to Lamkin, all that is needed is a wireless network and a simple check-in system. The struggle is finding a common-user supplier that can provide that model and an airport that will support it. “The thing that’s frustrating is that it’s not rocket science – we’re just looking to move CUTE suppliers and airports to simpler technology,” said Lamkin. “We think of the industry as hi-tech, but we are still using 20-30-year-old technology. We are not talking about the bleeding-edge, but mainstream technologies such as browser-based systems and wireless networks that are available today.”

He explained that easyJet wants to start lobbying common user providers to put their thinking hats on and start looking at more creative solutions, as more airlines will be demanding simpler systems at much lower cost. “The reality is that airlines are looking at everything to reduce costs; airports have got to do something to support the community more,” said Lamkin.

‘Time to take a reality check’

Internet check-in is key to the easyJet strategy. 98% of the airline’s passengers book online, so it knows they have internet access. EasyJet is trying to make it as easy as possible to check-in online, with the ultimate goal being 100% online check-in. The check-in process then effectively becomes bag drop. “That is the thing we really need to focus on – simple, efficient bag processes at airports,” said Lamkin. “We would clearly support any form of bag drop that is delivered at lower cost and doesn’t impact on our excellent lost bag figures. We want to make the process as efficient as possible.”

A 100% checkin trial, under which passengers with checked baggage will be allowed to use online check-in, is planned at a UK airport later this year.

“It’s time to take a reality check; we’re in 2008 – the internet has been around for over a decade and WiFi is standard in most airports. Lets move the industry forward and offer lower costs to the aviation industry. We need simple, lower cost solutions as soon as possible,” said Lamkin.

He explained that easyJet sees no benefit to adopting CUSS and rolling it out. The airline has done a number of trials of standard check-in versus Kiosk self tagging and bag drop, finding standard check-in to be faster. “We have been doing some work looking at alternative ways of connecting with the reservation system wirelessly. Once we’ve got a technology in place, we can use queue-busting devices. I very much see WiFi connections and wireless interfaces as the way forward for check-in systems,” said Lamkin.

Airlines are starting to think more and more about how they can get Departure Control working. “All we can see is CUTE charges getting higher and higher in certain airports. As an airline we cannot continue with CUTE charges going up on that basis,” said Lamkin.

He believes that airlines like easyJet, which are growing quickly, are bearing the brunt of paying for charges. “It is not sustainable that that model continues going forward. At the moment we are looking at costs across the network. We need to support fast, efficient operations,” he said.

Internet check-in is key to the easyJet strategy. 98% of the airline’s passengers book online. easyJet is trying to make it as easy as possible to check-in online, with the ultimate goal being 100% online check-in.

A simpler process

Lamkin has been involved in the CUPPS (Common Use Passenger Processing Systems) initiative and has attended several meetings. At one such meeting, it was accepted that a lot of airlines would not be able to participate in the pilot program if the AEA standard was not supported. “I saw CUPPS as moving technology forward, but I can see going forward that with legacy carriers carrying on with their existing systems, it will be CUTE version 2. CUPPS began with good intentions, but I feel it has got lost along the way,” said Lamkin. “If someone came up with a web-based system with a lower cost and wireless PDA, the work of CUPPS would be superseded. The internet/web browser is a much cheaper alternative. A wireless connection would provide access to the reservation system. We’ve got to stand up and say this is a simpler process.”

He also believes that mobile devices will potentially play a part in the future. “Mobile check-in may come about, but I believe it’s not quite there yet. With the advent of more advanced phones we will be looking at it as an option. However, at the moment it is cost prohibitive. I think it will come, but it’s still in its infancy,” said Lamkin.

The number of users of Touch & Go has been steadily increasing since introduction and already runs into the millions. “On Japan domestic routes, as the number of users of this technology increases the need for self-check in machines will invariably decrease, but for now SCM still have a vital to role to play at the airport,” said Pearlman.

JAL helped find volunteers for the trials by contacting members of its frequent flyer programs. The aim was to evaluate the future model for passenger procedures in which airline check-in and boarding pass issuing procedures and government immigration control procedures are performed at the same time by utilizing information transmission technology and biometrics technology in airport passenger procedures. The JAL test was held in Terminal 2 at Tokyo Narita Airport.

JAL customers taking part were issued with a trial IC (Integrated Circuit) card containing the holder’s passport data, biometrics data (such as fingerprints) and frequent flyer membership number, to use to check-in at a self-check-in machine and to verify their identify and receive a boarding pass at the same time when going through an automatic-gate in the immigration control area at Narita Airport.

The trials covered three types of biometric data – fingerprinting, retina recognition and facial recognition, and all were deemed by the ministries to be viable options.

Following the trials, automated gates were set up in the immigration control areas of Narita’s Terminals 1 and 2 towards the end of last year by the MoJ – one in each terminal. “The availability of additional channels for passengers to use when they go through immigration should result in an overall reduction in the time required for this stage in the departure process. We expect overall passenger convenience at the airport to be elevated as result of this development,” said Stephen Pearlman, JAL spokesperson. “JAL has been providing its support to the ministries involved in trialling this type of technology. If passenger convenience and security at the airport can be elevated by the introduction of this new form of immigration procedure then JAL welcomes it.”

Paperless boarding

The JAL ‘Touch and Go’ Service is a key example of the innovation at JAL that is helping to simplify the passenger travel experience. Touch & Go was introduced in February 2005 at four major domestic airports in Japan: Haneda, Itami (Osaka), Shin Chitose (Sapporo) and Fukuoka. Now, JAL Touch and Go is available at 51 out of the 60 domestic airports the airline currently serves. It has installed some 500 plus IC readers at security check areas and boarding gates at these airports.

“The boarding system allows IC cardholders to board domestic Japan flights without a ticket or a boarding pass. The ‘Touch & Go’ service enables passengers to quickly and smoothly board their flight, with no need to queue at an airport check-in counter or to use a self check-in machine,” said Pearlman.

Touch & Go passengers holding an IC credit card, IC mobile phone or IC JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) card can purchase their ticket via either the internet or telephone. From three days before their departure date up to one hour prior to flight departure, passengers can make a seat selection, change their seat selection and check-in for their flight using the JAL Touch & Go Service, accessible either via their computer or mobile phone. As all relevant data for the booking is recorded automatically on the IC card, on arrival at the airport passengers simply ‘Touch & Go’ their IC card at machines located in front of the airport security checkpoints and then at the boarding gate. Cards, mobile phones and JAL Mileage Bank cards with IC chips have a radio-frequency unit, and do not need to be inserted into a reader but can just be touched or swiped over a contact.

“Touch and Go was developed in-house for use on our Japan domestic routes. At present we do not plan to introduce this system internationally as there are many issues to overcome, as this technology is not common overseas,” said Pearlman. “Of course, we can save the cost of terminals and tickets as the number of users increases. Also, this JAL Touch and Go is a ticketless system, so is environmentally friendly. It also brings work-savings at airports, as well as increasing passenger convenience.”

The number of users of Touch & Go has been steadily increasing since introduction and already runs into the millions. Users tend to be individual business travelers.

“On Japan domestic routes, as the number of users of this technology increases the need for self-check in machines will invariably decrease, but for now SCM still have a vital to role to play at the airport,” said Pearlman.

Reduced waiting times

As part of JAL’s overall aim of reducing average passenger waiting times by approximately 50% during peak hours and improving the passenger’s check-in experience, it recently revamped all of its check-in areas at Narita Airport, which included expanded use of self-check-in machines.

Plus in spring 2008, a new inline baggage screening system was introduced to Narita by the airport authorities. “Our passengers no longer have to wait for their luggage to go through a security inspection prior to checking in and are now able to proceed directly to the check-in counter,” said Pearlman.

Bentubo: “The central aim of Disney’s Magical Express is to ease one part of the vacation and to make the journey easier for passengers, which in turn raises the standard of their vacation and enjoyment with us at Disney. Effectively, the scheme allows the passengers to start their holiday at the airport.”

“The central aim of Disney’s Magical Express is to ease one part of the vacation, to make the journey easier for passengers, which in turn raises the standard of their vacation and enjoyment with us at Disney. Effectively, the scheme allows the passengers to start their holiday at the airport, which means that families in particular arriving in Orlando can relax the minute they land. It is a phenomenal service which immediately resonated with guests,” said Bentubo.

At present, almost half of all Walt Disney’s guests – 2.1 million – use the service. As awareness increases, Bentubo expects that to rise 2-4% in 2009, with the rest of 2008 serving as a settling period.

Several weeks prior to departing for Disney World, passengers receive an Airport Transportation Booklet containing special bar coded luggage tags, which must be attached to their luggage before departure.

Upon arrival, a Disney representative directs passengers to the Disney Airport Welcome Center in Terminal B, where they board the complementary buses. The buses departing the airport are not scheduled and “move when we have guests to move,” said Bentubo, but the bus from the hotel to the airport adheres to a scheduled timetable to minimise the risk of any passengers missing flights. Passengers’ luggage is delivered after they check-in, however, guests do not need to be in their room at the time of the delivery and Bellman gratuities have already been covered.

At peak travel times, the company’s Magical Express buses to Disney World and its Disney Cruise Line buses to Port Canaveral carry more than 12,000 passengers in a single day. During one month – September 2007 – Disney carried away more than one in every seven travellers who landed at Orlando International Airport.

Disney: baggage handlers

“In line with this scheme and our current figures, if we effectively take 20% of the baggage from Orlando airport’s hands, and with it the responsibility, then it enables the airport to focus more on the efficiency of the remaining 80%. As of yet, all parties have indicated that they are very pleased with the Magical Express scheme and with passengers clearly enjoying it as well, it would seem that the Express is a better scheme for everyone,” said Bentubo.

Remote check-in at 19 locations either in or near the lobby or outside the resort entrance, allow passengers to check their luggage and receive their airline boarding pass at the Resort. However, this is only currently available for passengers flying domestically with a number of airlines, including American, Continental, jetBlue, Delta, Alaska, Northwest, US Airways, and United. Guests flying to international destinations have to check-in at Orlando International Airport, but as Bentubo explained, Walt Disney Express is very keen to extend the airline portfolio internationally.

“We are working on adding international airlines to the scheme so that we can reach a wider scope of passengers, so that as many guests as possible are able to benefit from the scheme and enjoy their time here at Walt Disney,” said Bentubo.

Trouble in paradise?

The 2.1 million passengers that Disney handled in 2007 is nearly 9% more traffic than it handled in 2006. At peak travel times, Disney’s Magical Express buses to Disney World and its Disney Cruise Line buses to Port Canaveral carried more than 12,000 passengers in a single day. During one month – September 2007 – Disney carried away more than one in every seven travellers who landed at Orlando International Airport.

Transportation companies that largely operate at Orlando International Airport are slightly dissatisfied about the free services popularity and the supposed detrimental affect it is having on their business.

“Whenever you create something that no one has ever tried before, there are going to be challenges. We’ve worked closely with the airport to create what has become an extremely successful service. Sometimes innovation requires a shift in the existing business environment, but in the long run, programs like Disney’s Magical Express create new jobs, reflect positively on our region’s reputation and drive additional visitation,” said Bentubo.

At present, almost half of all Walt Disney’s guests – 2.1 million – use the service. As awareness of the scheme increases, Bentubo expects that to rise 2-4% in 2009, with the rest of 2008 serving as a settling period.

Disney’s contract with Orlando International Airport allows the airport to make Disney add a second customer check-in location when the company carries more than 2.2 million passengers in any 12-month period. Considering last year’s figures it is likely that Disney would have to divide its theme-park and cruise-line shuttle operations and rent more counter and queuing space at opposite ends of the main terminal. Paying nearly $1.3 million a year to rent counter, office and other operating space at the airport, Disney will need to take the correct operational steps to ensure that the highest level of service is maintained for its guests and the airport’s passengers. Despite the controversy, Disney’s Magical Express has undeniably eased congestion in airport check-in lines and at baggage-claim carousels, and on a local level, it has provided jobs, and been a healthy enticement for attracting tourists to Orlando.

In addition, Disney is working to reach an agreement with Southwest Airlines as every other major domestic airline already participates in the programme. This would significantly reduce the amount of baggage that has to be screened at the airport, but the plan is surrounded by doubts that the Magical Express would be able to handle the load. Southwest Airlines accounts for more than one fifth of the airport’s traffic with a rumoured 80,000 of the 320,000 Southwest passengers opting for the service.

Bentubo said: “As we expand to other airlines we continue to monitor and make adjustments as needed. It is a priority for us to always ensure a seamless experience for all our guests and airline participants regardless of volume.”