New Qantas Check-in

[Tuner 2]

Qantas customers fly through check-in
Brisbane, 27 May 2002 :

In a first for Australia, Qantas customers will soon be able to check-in themselves and their baggage at state-of-the-art, self-service kiosks.

The new QuickCheck kiosks will be introduced from August 2002 at Sydney and Melbourne airports.

Qantas Executive General Manager Sales and Marketing John Borghetti said QuickCheck was a unique, easy to use system that would reduce check-in times to less than one minute.

"Customers will be able to use QuickCheck to check-in, view a map of the aircraft seating plan and select a seat," Mr Borghetti said.

"QuickCheck will be easily accessible, located in the departure area of the terminal, and kiosks for customers without baggage will also be located in Qantas Club lounges and close to CityFlyer departure gates."

Qantas customer service representatives will be on hand to assist customers with the new check-in system.

He said QuickCheck would soon be available at other Australian domestic airports.

"In the future, QuickCheck will allow customers to make a new booking, check-in for their return journey, update their Frequent Flyer details and book accommodation," Mr Borghetti said.

"Qantas already offers check in facilities at Cityflyer desks, Qantas Valet, Qantas Club lounges and at the departure gate, in addition to check-in counters."

[grange.guzzler]

Gee wizz

How inovative. Its only been available in Scandanavia for about 8 years and already its arrived here in sleepy oz.

Warp speed.

[Buster Hyman]

First for Australia? I recall a failed airline that had a service called e-check in for a few years prior to this rubbish article.

Ansett, the Comet of Australian aviation!

[Wonderworld]

Ansett only had self service check in. Not with bags.

[Buster Hyman]

Okay, where do the QF pax put their bags? Is it into the kiosk? Or at a designated counter...like AN?

[TheNightOwl]

How many of the seats will be "blocked-out" on the seating-plan for the big-ticket flyers, or will it be open to all? Somehow, I don't think so.

[OzExpat]

Well that should save Qantas a few staff members... hope they've thought about elderly pax a bit too.

[Tuner 2]

Somewhat different to the AN version:

Artist's Impression

[CI300]

Who will ask the punter if he/she packed the bags themselves?
Or will there be a special key for that ?

[Buster Hyman]

Nice pic Tuner2, thanks.

So, it looks like it has provision for staff to man it anyway, therefore, BFD! I guess it means that QF will not be bothering with excess baggage anymore & I wonder how much this flow on effect will affect weight & balance? If it isn't manned, what's to stop someone just faking a tag & putting a bomb onboard?

I hope you QF guys & gals crewing these flights ask some serious questions about this. Once you give the punter some level of control, you begin to lose that control yourself.

[Taildragger67]

Guys, the 20th century is about to dawn...
I fly with BA just about every week. I cannot remember the last time I went to a desk (except to drop off a bag). They have:
*traditional check-in counters
*check-in counter at paddington (where the LHR Express train goes from)
* check-in at the lounge or gate (if you have an ATB ticket)
*telephone check-in (available from 15.00 day before flight)
* on-line check-in (available from 24 hrs before flight)

- the last two only available to members of the FFP, so they have all your details/know where you live, etc.

So my usual practice is to get on the net the day before my flight & select my seat, then stick my FFP card in the machine at the airport, which spits out my boarding card, and away I go. If I happen to have a bag, they have a 'fast bag drop' counter where they tag it - takes about, oh, 30 secs.

All means I miss the interminable queue. I am astounded that these things haven't hit Australia yet (but then again, why should they bother - it's not as if they have to compete or anything... )

But wait!! We have a 22% owner who has all this technology - maybe we could just buy it off-the-shelf from them!!

This stuff is old-hat, dudes. Maybe PJK was right when he described Australia's geographical position...

[Taildragger67]

Oh, and Buster, in Europe these things don't spit out tags. You got a bag, get thee to a desk for a tag - where excess charges can be charged. As for security - if I did happen to be a nasty, and someone said, 'Hey mac, got a knife?' you think I'd answer in the affirmative? That, old son, is what those funny rectanglar things you walk through and those big machines you put your carry-on stuff through are supposed to detect... And they do the passport/ID check at the gate, no matter where you got your boarding pass.

As for 'faking a tag' and getting a bomb on board, well you'd have to be pretty good at faking bar-codes, since that's how the bags are sent to the right flight. In any case, the old match-the-bag-with-the-punter process ensures that all bags have owners. Nothing will stop a suicide bomber putting a bomb in his bag & getting on the flight but your apparent scenario of a 'fake' tag and no punter getting on is a non-starter.

Self-check-in machines don't 'give control to the punter', they allow you to get the a/c away on time and not miss your slot, by helping get us annoying full-fare punters onto the bird in nice time. in any case, what is the problem with the punters having a bit of control? We're human, too...

[Buster Hyman]

Dragger ol' chum. I was really responding to this bit;

In a first for Australia, Qantas customers will soon be able to .check-in themselves and their baggage at state-of-the-art, self-service kiosks.

After seeing the pics, it doesn't sound like they can put their bags in & tag them on their own, just like AN did. The inference of the article was that it was fully up to the punter.

BTW, we got electricity here too you know!