On Saturday, November 23, 2002, at 06:27 PM, David Ross wrote: > Okay, at last a reasonable reason why not to issue boarding passes at > the > gate. However, what about the practical? The lines at check in are > long > enough now. When I got on a short trip, I purposly pack everything > into a > carry on (leaving me naked, for I don't have my Swiss Army Knife with > me). > > What about Alaska's print-your-own boarding pass? Wonder how much of a > hassle it would be to have a "check-in" count at the security check > point? I can see the ease of forging of an e-ticket itinerary to be a simple matter. They should keep gate check in options though, because I still see one major legitimate reason for it: Interline connections. Suppose I fly from Los Angeles to Honolulu on Delta, then go over to the interisland terminal, which I can do without leaving the sterile area, and fly on Hawaiian to Hilo? Delta can't issue me the boarding pass for the Hawaiian flight, but they've got my bags sent through. Why should I have to leave the sterile area? Maybe specific gate check in areas will be no longer needed, but some sort of customer service counter that can do these things would be nice. Well, as I see it, they'll still need people at the gate for various customer service issues, so why not continue to provide gate check in at least to those pax who can manage to get through? Are they in fact ending gate check in? TSA can't really control that, they can just say that you need a boarding pass to go through security since they control the checkpoint. Added technology can help. Internet check in and self-service kiosks ought to help. Ultimately though the problem will need more agents to handle check ins. And more agents mean more counter space. Conceivably, couldn't airline's share? Lots of times an airline occupies a significant amount of space that doesn't get used for much of the day. Honolulu is a great example. Japan Airlines occupies virtually an entire lobby to themselves, but virtually all of their operations are in the morning. So by afternoon, it's empty. If necessary, could another airline's carriers use that space? Might we see this within alliance carriers? Already I see a little of this, in San Diego for example. Hawaiian there currently has one flight a day, and a very small counter area. They actually contract with Northwest to handle the flight, and there are a couple of agents that appear to be dedicated to HA, at least while the flight is there. However, I have often seen and gone to an agent working in the Northwest area to be checked in for the HA flight, when there were no NW pax in their line. -- David Mueller / HNL dmueller7@lycos.com http://www.quanterium.com *** Read the Airline List FAQ at http://airlinefaq.tripod.com ***