|
|
Post by Kereru on Nov 5, 2008 9:53:47 GMT 12
I thought I would start a thread on Air New Zealand new self check in areas for comments and experiences. I tried it yesterday on my grabaseat afternoon flight to New Plymouth. As with most grabaseat flights I had booked a couple of months ago and on the week end I went to the Air NZ web site and selected my seats which was real easy then they send out a pdf of my boarding pass to print. At that time my printer decides there is not enough ink so I decide that I will get them reprinted at the new check in terminal. That was just so easy to use by following the on screen menus and no queue to wait in, I think they may have a winner and well done to Air NZ. Some minor glitches as my barcode would not read but they have a back up in that key information is typed in and a pass is issued. Anything new will take a little while to settle in and having a good plan B will ensure no hold ups.   Photos were taken late evening around 8:30 pm so most of the passengers were gone. How did others find the new system? Colin |
|
|
|
Post by flyjoe180 on Nov 5, 2008 10:13:09 GMT 12
Colin, how are they different to the Self check in kiosks they have had for a long time? WHen you board now I notice you have to scan your own boarding pass. Is that a staff reduction scheme? Easy, but it's also nice to have someone greet you and welcome you.
|
|
|
|
Post by sleemanj on Nov 5, 2008 11:43:06 GMT 12
I think you can only use the existing kiosks at airports around the place if you are travelling with only cabin luggage, if you need to check in bags then you have to do it the old fashioned way. Where as at this place I think you can do the whole thing?
As for scanning boarding passes, they still seem to need 2 staff members there to make sure people do it right :-)
|
|
|
|
Post by Kereru on Nov 5, 2008 12:31:34 GMT 12
Colin, how are they different to the Self check in kiosks they have had for a long time? WHen you board now I notice you have to scan your own boarding pass. Is that a staff reduction scheme? Easy, but it's also nice to have someone greet you and welcome you. Yes they are similar to the self check in kiosks except you also do your bags as well if you have any. I guess if you had two bags you would have to pay the extra charge in some way? I notice two or three help desks with staff available at AKL. Still need smiling staff at the gates I would think as a security measure / helper? Cheers |
|
|
|
Post by sqwark2k on Nov 7, 2008 10:04:34 GMT 12
The company line is there is no staff reduction with the introduction of the self service check-in kiosks. The staff that would normally man the check-in counters are now utilised as airport "hosts" and wander the check-in area helping people use the new technology. I guess over time as people become used to the system, staff who resign will not be replaced and staff numbers will reduce through normal attrition.
Each kiosk has scales and a laser tag printer so all check-in procedures can be done yourself. After checking in, getting your boarding pass, printing and applying your own bag tag, you take the bags to the conveyor belt and place it yourself for it to go out to the baggage make up area. all bags for the flight are weighed and the info from the check-in kiosks are compared for the loadsheet. You then walk to gate and self scan your boarding pass to get on board. All in all, if the system is working 100%, you can get on the flight without talking to anyone til you board the flight and show your pass to the hostie....
|
|
|
|
Post by ARU on Nov 7, 2008 12:14:28 GMT 12
yer kingfisher is finally live, it has been put back at least twice ;D.
no lengthy queues to wait in which is awesome.
there is still a couple of downfalls at the moment, transhipping international passengers cant use the kiosk system due to different baggage restrictions ( which air NZ honer on domestic flights) they have to use the counters, and if you can imagine an Asian tour group for example going through it can get pretty messy FAST.
the other thing is if your bag is over 25 kg even by 100gm it will be rejected by the system, so the passenger has to be paged and told to repack etc, there is no discretion with this, which is a nuisance for everybody.
also with heavy tags there is no person to write a weight, an automatic system will slap a sticker on it, but no printed weight.
there is a difference between a 20Kg and 32kg bag believe me lol
but all in all it's good, i wonder how long til pac blue or Qantas will follow suit?
|
|
