QUEUE BUSTING AT AIRPORTS…

The recent security threats at our airports brought into sharp focus the madness that ensues around holiday season up and down the country. With the widespread availability of self-service check-in and check-in online, why is the great British public still made to queue for hours adding to busy airports and compounding the security risk? Self-service airline check-in, for example, costs up to a tenth of the traditional face to face model – prompting an increasing number of margin challenged airlines to encourage customers to adopt this approach. Indeed, new US technology supports international check-ins, with terminals scanning passports prior to issuing boarding cards and luggage labels. If the consumer – especially the queue loving British consumer – is to be encouraged to self-serve, organisations need to take a long term training stance towards encouraging adoption. Organisations will need to invest in digital signage and dedicated queue busters to direct and encourage the consumer towards the kiosk – an approach that has underpinned the widespread US adoption levels. It may go against the national grain but self-service is a global trend; failing to follow suit will fundamentally constrain competitive position. Critically, in a highly competitive and difficult trading environment, the self-service model fundamentally changes the cost of sale. It may be a difficult process to wean the UK public away from its addiction to queues but in pandering to this tradition, organisations are compromising their competitive position. Queuing at our airports is no longer acceptable in the current security environment when we have the technology to avoid it.