Automated turnstile boarding
 

I read an article in today's paper about the future of automated boarding. Has anyone used them? How did you think it went? How would it handle boarding zones?
http://www.startribune.com/business/160326795.html


..."Delta has tested the device in Atlanta and Las Vegas, with agents on hand to help passengers if necessary. Delta has no plans to expand the test to other airports, said spokesman Morgan Durrant, who declined to discuss customer feedback or other details of the test.

Officials at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas said Delta's test was positive. The airport plans to make 14 gates with self-boarding machines available to interested airlines by the end of summer, but did not disclose which airlines will be using the gates.

Advocates say the devices give agents more time to upgrade passengers, police the size of carry-on bags and sell add-ons, such as seats with more legroom. One agent can watch over more than one self-boarding gate..."

I've used them boarding LH flights at FRA. Brilliant, you just scan your BP and you're done.

Used them boarding LH flights at MUC. It's similar to a subway system turnstile. There are two ways to board: through an agent and through the turnstile. Obviously, the line using the turnstile went much faster. Very efficient.

I've used them with LH a number of times and they're generally fine.

I've also used self-boarding gates with CO at IAH and it was much more of a mess, as expected. Part of that is getting passengers used to using them and part of it is that passengers in the US are different than in Europe.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewan...JunSBGTrng.jpg

European: How convenient, scan my boarding pass and get through.
American: I'm sliding my boarding pass through like I do with my Metro card and it ain't workin!! This airline sucks! I want compensation! I'll be suing for wasting 2 minutes of my life. Where's my beer?

COdbaUA pax: Man this thing is slow, must be because of SHARES. Which, of course, would be true.

How does an automated boarding gate verify that you are the passenger (ie looking at you in comparison to your ID?) Given that there is so much online check in - it will basically mean that no one will look at your ID when getting on a plane - isn't that going to cause a) security issues and b) problems for the airlines when someone boards a flight without the relevant visa / paperwork etc.?

Why does it need to? In the US, only the TSA checks you once you're in the sterile area. In Europe they tend to be a little more retentive about it, but even then I have boarded flights in Brussels and in Frankfurt without showing my ID to anybody.

as stated above: "I have boarded flights in Brussels and in Frankfurt without showing my ID to anybody." How many people do you think the name game has actually stopped, that should have been stopped? My guess is zero. If I am a known terrorist, you really think I can't get my hands on a fake id or passport. Please. Only the TSA think that it works so no issue there.

I beep all the time in AMS with a "check docs" message and that isn't at an automated gate. Sometimes happens in MUC at the automated gates, for non-schengen flights. OLCI for many airlines now (for potential visa destinations) require you input information before. LH will even store it in my profile, but as a dual national that doesn't help.

But the real question is, does it block you if you are not entering with your assigned boarding zone?:D

Nope. ;)
It doesn't.

Potentially an issue if there are doc checks required but otherwise not really.

I quite like that the airline know who is on board -I suspect there are 'no fly' lists for a reason. If you can get on a plane without anyone checking you, then it rather makes a mockery of it all. Although I already think it is a bit of a blip - people reporting that TSA let them through even tho their ticket was in married name, passport in maiden name etc. without additional proof - are women suddenly not able to blow up planes?

In terms of visas, I just don't think machines are smart enough - if you are flying from X to Z via Y, what does the machine check, and how can it possible know every eventuality (I don't think the technology is there to link automatically to every country's individual visa in and outs (some, for example you need a visa if you are going there, but if you are transiting for less than 24 hours, you don't - if you have an onward ticket with an unrelated airline, how can that machine do the working out?).

My problem is not so much whether the gates are smart or not when it comes to visas, it is more that they will try to man the boarding gates with fewer people, and when problems occur, it is going to take a lot longer to get them resolved, if you only have 1 gate agent and 75 passangers with 'querey visa' messages. Not to mention if there are problems with delays, aircraft changes etc. I don't believe for one moment that any airline using the gates would keep the same staffing levels, despite the spin in the article - they are going to reduce staff, they would be idiotic not to, but it is the customer who will suffer.

If the airlines really cared about this they'd have to check IDs at boarding all the time. They gave up on that a long time ago. You might want that to happen, but it doesn't.

You don't get a BP until a human has verified the documents. They do not necessarily have to be verified again at the time of boarding if they've already been verified previously when the BP is issued.

PersonA has boarding pass for AAA-BBB.
PersonB has boarding pass for AAA-CCC.

Without an ID check, is there any reason that PersonB might not use PersonA's boarding pass instead of his own?

In the right circumstances, this could be a roundabout way to transfer a flight to a friend or relative. E.g., if the AAA-CCC flight is a cheap throwaway, PersonB buys that, and instead flies on the AAA-BBB flight which PersonA does not want to use anymore (but is willing and able to go to the airport to do this trick).

Nope...and this has been a possibility for a long, long time. The automated self-boarding process doesn't change that one bit.

The UK, among others, mandates this for all UK carriers. ID checks must be conducted at the last point at which passengers on a flight can mix with non-passengers.

Why is ID check even an issue? For most flights you don't have an ID check at the gate without the turnstiles, why would you want one with them? The agent scans your boarding pass and onto the plane you go.

The turnstile scans your boarding pass, and onto the plane you go.

I'm sure if it's a flight that requires an ID check they would just not use the turnstile, and instead do it manually.

No, at FRA for instance they check ID (when required) at portable podiums located before the automatic gates. Then we pass by the podium, put our BP on the scanner, and go through the gates.

The automatic gates are still used, even if an ID check is required.

(I'm frankly surprised that this seems to be such a 'new' concept here on FT)

But how does the ID checker know whether you are the right traveller? And if the ID checker is also scanning your BP, why bother with the automatic gate?

The last time I flew out of ZRH E gates, my BP was checked to go airside, then my passport was checked to leave Schengen, then my BP was checked at the gate. But they never verified that my BP and passport had the same name.

Is it ok to make BAAAA BAAAAA noises while going through the turnstiles? :D

Re the ID check thing, I find it interesting that if I check in online or use my QFF card at the self check in stands (no password, etc required) I don't have to show ID but if I present the exact same QFF card to a check in counter I do.

Moral of the story: Terrorists and theives aren't smart enough to use the self check in kiosks????

the purported cost savings are illusory
 

proponents say this process will "free up" GA time to handle other requests, like processing standbys and upgrades. but they're also selling it as a cost-saving device. what costs are they intending to save? labor costs of GAs. in other words, they will lay off GAs down to the point where the time GAs have to handle standbys etc. will be exactly the same as it was before the turnstiles.

it will actually be less, as the reduced staff will now have to handle passengers who have difficulty with the system, as well as dealing with technical problems and malfunctions.

on a side note, the article doesn't say how this system will handle exit row passengers. in my experience, whenever i board with a BP for an exit seat, the machine gives an alert and the GA asks me the exit row questions.

The ID check is for documentation; ie that the traveller has the correct visa in place if required. In the US, they do it differently (at least for my UA flights). The GA announces 20-30 minutes before the flight that all passengers must approach the GAs before boarding begins to have their passport checked, and then the boarding pass is stamped. That is often chaotic, requires another step for travellers, and misses people who are not in the gate area at the time.

Just like the TSA ID check at the entry to security, ID checks of the boarding pass to the passenger ID do nothing more than confirm that the traveller is holding a boarding pass and an ID which have the same name. There is no way for the ID checker (at FRA or any other gate or at a TSA TDC checkpoint) to verify that the ID is not falsified.

The ID check in the US for domestic flights serves only as revenue protection (and to pacify those travellers who somehow think that carrying a boarding pass and ID issued in the same name somehow make us all safer) It has nothing to do with being the 'right' traveller.

The automatic gates are in place, and are fixed. They are the standard. The rolling podium is brought in only for those flights where an ID/documentation check is required, hence one still uses the automated gates.

I've never been asked exit row question at time of boarding. There is the question on some carriers at time of OLCI, and I have had an exit row briefing many times, but I have never been stopped at an automated or human operated gate before because I am in an exit row.

Funny that you mentioned UA earlier but haven't had this yet. Since 3.3 the gate system "beeps" to alert the GA that the passenger is in an exit and they're supposed to verify at that point.

I haven't flown UA much since 3/3, and haven't flown in 757 exit row since, so haven't experienced that. I assume that is a CO change? In all my many, many flights over the years as a UA 1K in the exit row, I was never quizzed at the time of boarding regarding exit rows.

I did fly a CO route with a CO crew a few weeks ago, and they did do an exit row briefing on board (or at least one of them was directed to do so; I was in F so cannot confirm if it actually occurred)

The United system I believe always displayed exit row on the reader, even before 3/3, but don't think it use to beep to alert them to give you the once over.

They use these at HND as well.

When you try to board when it's not your time (i.e. trying to board with First Class/elite status when the person is in coach and has no status), the gate slams shut in your face, alarm bells go off and an automated message plays LOUDLY to shame you "it's not your time to board yet."

It was the most brilliant thing for this part and I hope it gets put to good use to get all those Kettles out of the way.

:D

ZRH has them for some gates in the new B pier. Document check is carried out after passign through the automated gate for UK flights.

And, it's a change we'll like. You're already notified when you select the seat and then when you're on the plane. This asking when you board is overkill.

Agreed! Asking 3 times is just too much, and slows down boarding, I assume (as well as being redundant redundant, it would be one argument against such gates, albeit a very weak one)