Self-service kiosks have been in use at the airports for a long time not just for passenger check in. The main challenge is that these kiosks are designed for specific airline. This may bring out some problems as the more airlines come up with the use of kiosks for their services, the space at the airports is limited and an airline without a space to put up their kiosk may be shut out of business.
Airlines have come up with a common use self-service kiosk to address this issue. This is more convenient as by use of one kiosk, you can access your preferred airline. Introduction for the common use kiosks has several benefits such as:
i. Customers are able to interact with airline applications at single contact point.
ii. There is the security of access.
iii. There is no need to dedicate special areas for different airlines as from the common use self-service kiosk you can have optimum use for the airline facilities.
iv. When different airlines come together to design one kiosk for all their different services, there is sharing of costs involved in the manufacture and running of the kiosks.
v. Airlines are allowed to offer their own special check-in products without the requirements provided by airport authorities or agents and the requirements may not be compatible with the host computer systems.
vi. There is reduction of the space required at the airports for placement of the kiosks.
Common use self-service kiosks enable several airlines to offer self-service facilities and the ones that are already offering, they have a chance to offer more services at more locations. No matter how small or ‘new in the market’ an airline may be, the common use self-service kiosks enable them to have the advantages that are enjoyed by the airlines that have been for so long in the market.
Passengers prefer to use the self-service kiosk as they get to enjoy more options than just a boarding card. They get to enjoy services such as change of seats, change of flight time, etc. Processing of the number of passengers can be decentralized which drastically reduces bottlenecks and this leads to better use of staff resources. Use of digital kiosk is steadily growing as more and more passengers are coming to get used to using them just like the way the rise of acceptance of ATM machines rose.
These kiosks restore the airline and the systems faster than any other service provider which avoids costly and damaging delays.
Since the common use self-service kiosks bring different users to a central point, it is important for the airlines involved to choose a kiosk manufacture that is experienced and has certification to globally design high quality kiosks.