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Airlines create convenient travel
By Sue DePassio
Collegian Reporter
Hillsdale College students making plans to travel home by air for Thanksgiving and Christmas now can focus more on last-minute packing and rides to the airport.
Airports can be a hassle with their long lines, security checkpoints and endless amounts of waiting, but things are easier following the installation of electronic kiosk machines.
A kiosk electronically guides passengers through a step-by-step program that is activated by touching a screen. Using the kiosk, passengers can check in and get a boarding pass, choose their own seat and alter flight schedules.
The airline industry introduced kiosks in recent years, and their growing popularity is due to their usefulness. The self-serve check-in machines safely store passenger information into a computer system until the passenger prints out an electronic ticket before boarding.
With advanced computer information, and better hardware and software, the accessibility of e-tickets has made it much easier for fliers to accept self-serve check-in.
Junior Noah Schellhammer, from Vineyard Haven, Mass., searches for cheap fares online when he travels, and uses electronic kiosks to avoid long lines at the airport.
“It's more convenient than talking to an airline agent because you can check in easier,” Schellhammer said.
Many of the airlines have adopted kiosk machines, including two of the most frequently flown industries, Northwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines.
Beyond self-serve check-in, kiosks offer various traveling options. Some include seat selection, picking your meal, bringing your own meal and other more personal preferences.
Senior Dana Falvo recently flew to California and took advantage of the kiosk options.
“You can see exactly where you want to sit because there is an image of the plane [on the screen] that shows exits, and the front and back,” she said.
Charles Possehl, an Internet support specialist for Northwest, said he recommends kiosks to customers because of their help in avoiding lines and to get to destinations quicker.
“We also have online flight scheduling where you can print off your boarding pass at home,” Possehl said, which is the method Northwest typically recommends first.
Northwest e-ticket customers may check in for the flight online between 30 and 60 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time and print their boarding pass, making flights easier to book. Northwest also offers the option of making alterations up to 30 minutes before traveling.
Junior Kaitlin Solmonson said her dad usually books her trips online, and she receives flight confirmation and print-out boarding pass through e-mail.
Solmonson is from Anchorage, Alaska, and only flies a few times a year, but is familiar with the kiosks.
“You just type in your code to check in and skip all the lines, and all you have to wait for is to check bags,” she said. “It's easier on both sides.”
Automated machines are offered at nearby Detroit Metropolitan, Flint Bishop, Toledo and Chicago's Midway and O'Hare airports.
Among all the business the airport industries produce, and above efficient traveling options, is the need for concourse expansion.
Detroit Metro Airport plans to expand the McNamara Terminal, Northwest's largest hub, and restore the closed Davey Terminal to provide additional concourses and better facilities for fliers.
Parts of the Davey Terminal were torn down and then closed when Northwest moved to the McNamara, and passengers who fly Spirit, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are using the Smith Terminal until Davey is rebuilt.
The renovations will wholly improve the appearance and business of Metro airport. The Detroit Free Press said the two projects were delayed by more than a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks derailed the airport's plans to raise additional funds for these projects.
Once renovations are finished, Spirit will be a major server at Davey, which will be used by most carriers except Northwest, and the McNamara will be expanded and updated.
There is no agenda for the start of the renovations until financial support is available, but the airport intends to fundraise between 2005 and 2007.
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