The Decision by EasyJet to Eliminate Check-In Counters May Signal the Eventual End of Any Human Contact Before Boarding a Plane
 | Posted by Arthur Frommer at 3/26/2013 12:35 PM EDT |
I think it's a significant development. EasyJet, the British budget air carrier, has announced that, like its rival Ryanair, it will no longer employ people to issue your boarding pass or otherwise attend to your pre-boarding needs. Except for an "emergency facility" that it says it will maintain for luddites who fail to obtain a boarding pass from their computer and printer at home (and it makes that promise somewhat ambiguously), it will stop employing a human being to check you in (there will be a single, separate area for depositing your luggage, with a luggage tag that you will have printed at home).
Already, Ryanair enforces its own ban against the check-in process overseen by a human being, by charging a stiff, 60-Euro per person penalty on passengers who fail to print out their boarding pass at home. It's obvious that eventually, EasyJet will assess the same kind of penalty. So in practice, everyone checking in for many different flights will simply drop their suitcase, if they have one, into a luggage receptacle, and then proceed--unattended--to the gate, never having encountered an airline employee.
The savings are so obvious that the adoption of similar practices by airlines around the world, including the U.S., seems inevitable. In fact, someone will undoubtedly create a self-service machine for easily scanning your boarding pass at the gate and thus being permitted to walk onto the plane. The entire process, from arrival at the airport to taking your seat inside the airplane, will be handled without the intervention of humans.
And what will happen to the unfortunate soul who doesn't quite comply with computer-operated procedures? Who shows up at the airport without properly creating boarding pass and luggage tag? "Tough luck", will be the response of the airlines. In fact, one poor British passenger traveling with her family of three others in Spain, had to pay a stiff, 240-Euro penalty to Ryanair for failing to print out her boarding pass in advance. When she protested that she had no access on vacation to either a laptop or printer, Ryanair responded that she could have demanded that the hotel front desk perform this function for her. And when she answered that she was staying with her family at a farmhouse that didn't possess such equipment, the President of Ryanair called her an "idiot".
So there it is--progress. We will someday look back fondly on the time when a smiling airline attendant greeted you from behind a check-in counter.
Gate Agents provide pilots and flight attendants with detailed paperwork that is consulted throughout the flight. It is provided both at the beginning of the boarding process and finally before the door is closed. They come onboard to resolve seat duplication problems and other seating issues. They coordinate with provisioning about bathroom supplies, food and drink items and other service items that may have been left off the plane or need to be replaced - often having to carry the heavy items on themselves. They keep flight attendants advised on time remaining before departure and close the aircraft door when everything is done. On many arriving flights, the Gate Agents have to empty the trash and help clean the plane. While doing all this, they are constantly approached at their podiums by a stream of customers many of whom are obnoxious, make unreasonable demands or have stupid questions that could have been answered by listening to the announcements or reading the board. Gate Agents have to be skilled at using a computer, learning the airline's computer programs as well as other equipment, and they must have a high level of skill in dealing with the public.
For all this they receive a starting salary of $9 an hour. I think the airlines are getting a good deal from these people, and I can't imagine how an airline would function well without what they do on a daily basis. I wouldn't want their job, although it is a good entry level position for somebody who wants to advance in the airline business. It provides good experience, and many Gate Agents move into Flight Attendant or Administrative office positions.