Originally Posted by
Goldorak
You know...I think technology is a problem for many people. PARAFES has clearly some inconveniences but it is quite simple to use (it is showing you which fingers you can use). But I am very often amazed by the number of people who are completely lost, putting any finger, not looking at the very simple instructions, etc. Same for check-in kiosks : as simple as they are to use, a very significant number of people are totally unable to use them without help.
The US kiosks are also a problem for many pax, especially at the fingerprints and picture step.
Ah ah, no, that's not the way things work my friend
There is no prize for machines which you and I find very simple to use because we know them inside out and have for years. Whether the instructions are "very simple" or not is precisely measured by how many people have problems using them, and on that front, the evidence against the Parafes machines is pretty damning.
People are referring to the old LHR machines and that's a good example: people with French passports often had trouble with the machines as the French cover had a different weight to the UK one. It was never a problem for me because I always knew exactly what hand pressure to use when holding my passport to make it work. It does not mean that the machines did not have a problem and the people did. It was the machines which had the problem even if knowledgeable people could adapt to them.
The quality of the machines is precisely measured by its tolerance/adaptability to users of different shapes, skills, cultures and to a process that can be understood by such different people. Too many people 'fail' with Parafes for it to be good, and that is despite it being privileged since only registered foreign people use them, ie the bulk of the people most likely to find it difficult to use such machines (foreign, elderly, occasional pax) do not even try. By contrast, the OSL machines, used by everyone seem to miraculously adapt to where people stand, where they look and all the rest. That is the difference between 'very simple' and not.
With the US kiosks, I think the issue is not the machines but the amount of things people have to answer and do. The only machine element is that I often see people who do not realise they need to "announce" which hand they will use for the fingerprints before putting their fingers on.