Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, announced over the weekend that they plan to eliminate all check-in counters at the airports by January 2010. Their passengers will be forced to check-in online. Is this a wave of the future?
We have already seen the steady march towards mechanization of the check-in process and several other smaller low-cost carriers are already charging economy passengers for check-in who come to the airport rather than checking in online.
Ryanair will be the largest carrier to attempt to go to an all-automated check-in system. It will be interesting to see whether they can move to no check-in counters. According to the airline, 75 percent of their passengers currently check in online. This move is being marketed as a money-saver for passengers.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary notes that passengers will be able to leave their luggage at a bag drop but otherwise everything will be done online. Ryanair’s goal is to have just one in five people check in luggage, according to O’Leary.
Even with the rapid online adoption by most passengers, I don’t think Ryanair, nor any other airline will ever be able to reach 100 percent online check-in for myriad reasons. The effort, however, will certainly force Ryanair to make their check-in procedure as seamless as possible and will test their airport personnel’s ability to handle passengers’ aversion to a total do-it-yourself system.
Heck most buses still have the ability for the driver to take a fare. Even a simple system like that hasn’t been totally automated.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
