Automated check-ins take off

By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff, 11/17/02

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Airlines are stepping up their deployment of self-service check-in kiosks, trying to convince travelers that it is quicker and more convenient to deal with a machine than a person.

Many airlines are offering bonus frequent-flier miles to first-time users, and some carriers are offering miles each time the machines are used. Their goal is to speed up the sluggish check-in process and, eventually, cut labor costs by replacing check-in agents with machines.

Continental Airlines estimates that 1 million of its passengers are now checking themselves in each month. Delta Airlines, with 387 self-service kiosks, hopes to add 400 more across the nation by the end of the year. US Airways is aiming for 250 by year's end and American Airlines wants to add about 300 to its current 400 over the next three months.

Nineteen of those 400 are at Logan International. They handled 20 percent of eligible transactions (most machines only handle electronic tickets for US travel) in October, and the figure rose to 25 percent in the first week of November. American is aiming for 50 to 60 percent penetration by the end of next year; its biggest problem is the lack of terminal space.

For most travelers, self-service check-in is a familiar drill, much like using an automated teller machine at a bank or the self-service checkout line at the supermarket.

"It's easy and you get through a lot quicker," said Sarah Kaull of Boston, checking herself in for an American flight at Logan.

But there is a fear factor to overcome among some passengers. On a recent morning at Logan, the regular check-in lines at the main American counter often got quite long, yet the line for the self-service machines rarely extended beyond one or two people. An American agent repeatedly had to coax people waiting in the long lines to try the machines. First-class passengers, perhaps accustomed to a higher level of service, were particularly reluctant.

Karen Burke was checking in for a flight to Minneapolis with a stop in Chicago. She swiped a credit card through the machine to identify herself. (She also could have used an airline frequent flier card.) She then used her finger on the touch screen to do the rest. She punched in her flight number, selected a seat location for each leg of her flight, printed out a boarding pass and a receipt, and indicated she had one bag to check.

The bag tag printed out behind the counter, where an agent retrieved it and checked the bag the same way it's done at the full-service counter. Mary McKee, managing director for airport automation at American, said one agent typically oversees four self-service machines, checking bags and providing assistance when necessary.

Self-service is not just for solo travelers. American officials said one person can check in a family of four at the same time without repeating any of the steps.

McKee said the average airport ticket counter transaction takes four minutes. She said the average self-service check-in without bags takes a minute, with bags, about a minute and a half.

From what I saw at Logan, glitches are not uncommon. Several passengers found they couldn't check themselves in and needed assistance. "It never works. Every city, every airline, it's the same," said Jennifer Giles of Oklahoma City.

Congestion was another problem. The check-in machines at the main American counter were so close together that one passenger with a couple of bags would take up the space not only in front of his machine but the one next to him as well. Travelers often ended up tripping over bags trying to get to the machines. The congestion also led to delays in getting bags checked.

Airlines are reluctant to talk about the labor savings from self-service check-ins, but it is obviously a primary goal. Machines capable of checking bags need to be located at the main counter, which means that as self-service expands, the space available for conventional, people-assisted check-in must contract.

Right now the self-service machines take up only a small fraction of the overall check-in space at the American counter. But with American and other airlines ramping up their self-service capabilities, the self-service share of space will grow dramatically. The future is pretty clear. Self-service is taking over, and sensible travelers need to get on board.

That's OK with Tricia Halpin of Waltham. Even though she needed assistance with her self-service check-in, Halpin said she's not going back to waiting in line. "I like anything that keeps me moving," she said.

Time-share fraud

Most of the key figures in a time-share appraisal fraud scheme that victimized more than 38,000 people for more than $15 million have been sentenced in Boston to lengthy prison terms.

The case, prosecuted by US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan's office, focused on a telemarketing scheme that sold phony $399 appraisals through dummy corporations to time-share owners trying to sell their weeks.

The leader, Donald Gonczy, was sentenced to seven years. The finance man, Sholem Joel Epstein of Pompano Beach, Fla., got nine years. Gonczy's daughter, Jill Gonczy Upton of Hyannis, cooperated with investigators and was sentenced to 1 years of community confinement and home detention. One of Gonczy's sons, Scott of Providence, got three years and 10 months. Another son, Todd, cooperated and received five years' probation.

At Epstein's sentencing hearing, US District Court Judge William G. Young said the case "was the most enormous, sophisticated, complex, and far-reaching mail fraud scheme that this court has ever seen."

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.