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Business Travel: Airport shortcuts
LONDON, England -- Waiting in long baggage check-in lines for a boarding pass may soon be a thing of the past as airlines begin offering Internet check-in around the clock through Web sites. American carriers American Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air are already allowing passengers to print out their boarding pass at home, in the office or at any other place where there is a printer available. American Airlines told Reuters its customers can print out two copies of a pass -- one for the gate agent and one for records or expense accounts -- beginning 12 hours before a flight and up to one hour before departure. For travellers checking baggage, some carriers can issue a boarding pass at curbside allowing passengers to head for the security line with their hands free. Then there are the self-service check-in kiosks that have sprouted like mushrooms in many of the busiest airports in the U.S.. At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, for instance, Delta Airlines passengers with electronic tickets can walk right up to a kiosk, print out their boarding pass and hand luggage over at a separate special counter in exchange for a baggage claim ticket, avoiding a long line of passengers waiting to buy or change tickets. Northwest now has 632 self-service terminals -- more than any other carrier -- in airport lobbies, pedestrian walkways and parking areas at 143 locations in the U.S. and Canada. It is possible to check bags inside the parking garage at some locations, and get a boarding pass. Northwest's system also allows the traveller to get a return trip boarding pass, provided the flight is within 30 hours. The carrier estimates that 39 percent of its customers now use some sort of automated check-in. Alaska Airlines has opened at the Anchorage airport what it calls a "port of the future" that has essentially eliminated the ticket counter. Passengers get a boarding pass at an electronic self-service terminal, hand it to an agent who scans it and places a claim check on the luggage, and the passenger then places the bag on a conveyor belt that takes it back to security. Each baggage drop has two conveyor belts, one on either side of the podium, and the agent can process two lines at once. Alaska spokesman Jack Walsh told Reuters four of the check-in points at Anchorage recently processed 100 passengers from a tour bus in 17 minutes, and that Web check-ins now account for nearly 9 percent of all that carrier's passengers. Beyond the boarding pass, up-do-date information on gate changes and other disruptions may be an equally valuable commodity at, or on the way to, the airport. Several carriers offer services that alert subscribing passengers by pager or other electronic device to gate information and other real-time data. Orbitz, the on-line agency organized by American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United, offers a "Customer Care" service. Scott Ackerman, who directs that program, told the news agency information ranging from work stoppages and strikes at foreign destinations to flight delays and the fastest way to get a boarding pass is routinely directed to customers who can receive the information on cell phones, pagers or any other portable communications devices. The system can also provide duplicate messages for family members or business colleagues, informing them at the same time as the traveller of delays or other schedule problems. "I think there are some people who have stopped travelling because they're not prepared, and waste a whole day at the airport. If business travellers can be better informed they may go back to more face-to-face business," Ackerman said. Reuters contributed to this report.
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