I think NZ's one is a fantastic innovation.

However there are a number of areas requiring urgent attention:

Machine user experience
This is very poorly executed. Why, for example, is it necessary to touch the screen to check-in and then wait 5 seconds or so - additionally, the machine tells you to remove your ePass before you should actually remove your ePass to ensure that the machine has recognised who you are.

There are also a number of steps in the check-in flow which are unnecessary for frequent travellers. In particular, the dangerous goods question and the did you pack your bags yourself question - with the answers alternating. If it is necessary to have these questions (which I am never asked by people when checking in domestically) the answers should at least be the same to both questions to avoid having to think about it.

Additionally blocked seats (if immediately adjacent to yourself only) should be shown on the screen - I am thinking a giant X to denote 'currently blocked, subject to change at any time'.

All this makes using one of these machines take longer than using a CSR (provided one is immediately available).

The consumables in these machines also need to be more frequently replaced. I recently had to try 4 different machines before I could find one that would print luggage tags. (And this was only because the check-in line was far too long - you guessed it, Koru Club members). Additionally things printed by these machines should not look like they have just been through torrential rain...

Boarding pass font and layout
The version from the kiosk offends the sense of style in me (and therefore undermines the whole Air New Zealand brand). The kiosks should be programmed in line with those issued by a CSR. Whether or not it is necessary to replace the cardstock with the version with 'myboardingpass' preprinted in green should be left to an expert in this area (outlined below - but note: I do not favour this task being performed by a design agency as the examples I have seen where this has been done have been horrific to say the least).

For International itineraries, the Business class designation should additionally be printed in the same size font as the flight number, and should also be printed on the stub, as part of a risk management exercise to ensure crew do not mistake passengers based on attire.

Additionally there may be some value in a feng shui expert being engaged to conduct a review to provides insights into additional aesthetic changes to boarding pass layout that will help customers improve life by receiving more positive qi.

Luggage Receipts (From CSRs)
The excellent person who came up with the baggage system had intended it would entirely remove the use of stickers as baggage receipts for short-haul journeys. I believe this is largely a problem of the flow - ie staff printing boarding passes before printing luggage tags and then feeling the need to stick luggage receipts to the rear of the boarding pass. The system should be reordered to prohibit the printing of boarding passes before luggage tags. In this business seconds, repeated by how many interactions per year, count.

Gatepass flow
It would make more sense to print a boarding pass for the passenger the first time they present their credentials. For many, this would be the entrance to the Koru lounge. Essentially a boarding pass contains very useful information that an ePass does not - particularly destination and gate number - and is more useful if provided earlier in the piece.

There is an obvious design flaw with the gatepass printers whereby the printer directs the stock at the wrong angle and it gets jammed potentially. Some machines seem to have an additional piece of guiding metal or plastic fixed to solve this problem. Others seem to have their tops permanently open.

It should be noted that these machines also print out inconsistently formatted boarding passes.

Staff and their functionAs has been noted by Freeth (quoted above) this is a major problem.

Now self check-in has been introduced, the focus now should not be on trying to direct passengers to machines but to process them in the most efficient manner. Staff allocated to stand around in an idle fashion and approach passengers struggling to operate machines from time to time should be immediately redeployed to operate check-in computers. There are always going to be passengers with issues that cannot be solved by these primitive machines and also passengers who want to be checked in by a person and this should be recognised by a premium airline.

Two case studies on this point:

AKL Domestic
AKL Domestic Premium seems an incredibly poorly executed, cheap rip-off of concierge style check-in (which is properly implemented by numerous leading world airlines for highest class passengers). It regularly has a longer line than the regular desk (but of course that would be further to walk). Two check-in positions here are nowhere near enough.

Wellington
This seems to exhibit major problems when there are no non-stop international flights imminent. At these times it is evident that there are not sufficient levels of staffing. This has been a problem for a substantial number of years, particularly on weekends, with Sunday receiving a special mention) - as if passengers do not get flights out of Wellington to connect to late night flights out of Auckland.

I have noticed here if you only have 2 people working check-in counters, it only takes one passenger with a difficult issue to screw the whole thing. This always seems to be the passenger at the premium counter, and of course the economy counter continues drawing from the economy line leaving the premium line at a standstill. Meanwhile there are 2 or 3 Air NZ staff milling around the kiosks helping no-one very much.


You may wonder why I have written so much about this subject. Guess how much time of mine Air New Zealand wastes each year due to these shortcomings (and at times of the day which I would rather have the extra time).