Originally Posted by obgraham
I know you dont want to hear this, but on this side of the Pond, I'd say 85% of checkins are now self-check-in at the kiosk. Much faster than waiting for some bored twit at the desk to do you while she worries about her nail job due at 3pm. Ongoing flights check in fine. Baggage checks in fine, prints the tag, and the one bored person sticks it on your bag and sends you off to the TSA nazis. For International some still work manually, others you put in your passport stuff, then a uniform verifies it and off you go.
This is a step forward, folks!
Your American check in agents may be as you describe, but I take exception to your blaise generalisation. My wife works damn hard in her job and so do her colleauges. And a bit of personal service is usually welcome whereas a machine is prone to breakdowns and is inflexible. And who asks the security questions? Your amazing TSA? More power for them to torment you with. Thats good.
The machine may be fine for checking in quick internal flights but I would suggest international flights should still be manual. However, I'm sure you know best as Americans always do as we can see around the world.
skiddy