US wins self service award!
 

Sorry, but I find this very funny. Imagine winning a customer service award for not having interface with customers!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-Air....html?x=0&.v=1

Admittedly my experience with other carriers is pretty small (UA, AA, CO and DL) but doesn't US offer the bare minimum of functionality on their kiosks?

Perhaps it's based on where they've gone in respect to where they've been instead of comparing them against another airline. But in the end, US kiosks are way behind other airlines. Silly award, IMHO

Must be based on the ones in HNL giving out free upgrades to preferreds :)

Slightly OT
 

Slight OT question here guys. Do the US kiosks give out "proper" (i.e. card) boarding passes or are they those stupid flimsy bits of paper that the US airlines seem to love? I'm travelling with US next week and much prefer card stock. Can I get card boarding passes with an agent at the check-in desk?

Thanks in advance :)

Kiosk=flimsy paper
Desk=proper card stock

Perfect. Just what I needed to know. Thanks! Looks like I'll be going to the desk in TPA then :)

I don't care which kind I get....but I am wondering why you (a general "you") would have a preference. Anyone?

I prefer the cardboard ones because I find the paper gets mangled very easily. Also, I'm a bit sad and like to collect old boarding passes (particularly premium class ones like this trip will be) and the card ones just last so much longer. Those are my reasons but others may be different.

Some people collect these "cards". There are a few in the FT community.

I collect them. That's because I don't empty my computer bag very often so fond BP's from long ago. I prefer the flimsies because they weigh less and take less space so I don't need to clean out my bag so often. Of course I print my BP's with OLCI so that takes an entire sheet, but I can use the back side for notes.

I thought the award was kinda funny too, but to be honest I would much rather do everything myself with machines than interact with employees at an airport! I'll save my chit-chat and IPC skills for the bar!

Many years ago John Reed, then President of Citibank, sponsored installations of ATM's in New York. Reporters asked him why anybody would use a machine rather than a real human being. he replied "well, have you met our tellers? Wouldn't you rather have a machine?" That may have been partially apocryphal but he still caught flak for it. Most New Yorkers preferred the machines.

US Airways and every other airline has machines I like better than gate agents too.

I don't find the kiosks so bad. They're limited in functionality and I'd love if they could do more things, but for the casual traveller, they're pretty straight-forward and easy to understand. I really like that they almost always are working; I run into one here and there that isn't working but for the most part, they're up and running. Some other airlines, not so much. Last time I took UA, I tried about 5 Easy Chicken machines before I found one that worked, and that was at ORD where you'd think they could fix 'em quickly.