When was the last time you stood in a queue for baggage check-in at the airport and felt contended at the speed of the baggage drop process? Or when was the last time you enjoyed standing in the security check line behind a dozen passengers waiting for your turn to be scanned? I am not sure if you indeed smiled with joy at the cumbersome process, but for most people it is a tiring process which needs immediate transformation and simplification. There are so many formalities and checks to be done at the airport that it usually consumes a lot of precious time of the passengers to reach the boarding gate starting from the entry gate of the airport. Can the process be streamlined? Can the airport undergo some transformation that saves the time and hassle for the passengers, and also requires lower mobilization of staff, making the airports much spacious and interruption-free?
“Yes” is the definite answer when you ask Idea74. Airports around the world are waiting for a digital transformation that eliminates the need for long waiting times in the queues for baggage drop and for security checks. Not just departure, but even the arrival section has passengers frantically try to spot their bags on the conveyor belt. Airports are teeming with innovation and some of the cutting-edge technologies. And yet there are areas where the airports around the world need further tech disruption to make the journey of passengers much more fulfilling.
Seamless check-in process
These days, most airports require passengers to stand in queues for luggage check-in. However, in the very near future, passengers will simply enter the departure gate and will be greeted by an array of check-in portals. The passenger will simply scan the barcode present on the boarding pass generated through web check-in process. The portal will next ask for number of check-in bags. The authentication process will generate a sticker containing another barcode and will be dispensed by the machine. The entire process will take a maximum of 5-10 seconds. The barcode pasted on the bags will carry information on your contact details and flight details, along with the PNR.
The passenger will be required to paste the barcode slips on the check-in bags and then simply roll them over a conveyor belt which will be running at the ground level, which means at the same level as the floor. No, it won’t be risky as the belt will be flanked by protective gears which will mark a boundary against the belt, but over which the wheels of the bags can roll easily. The short-length belt will have an inbuilt weight sensor and it will show you the weight of the bags as it carries them to a longer main-belt simultaneously. Once the short belt drops the bags over the longer belt, the bags will be taken to the Luggage Handling Unit behind the walls. The barcode will be scanned at the Luggage Handling Unit and the total weight of the bags tagged to the same PNR will be calculated. The information on weight and the subsequent payment of fee for extra weight will be shared with the passenger over a text notification on messaging apps. The inbuilt payment feature available in the messaging apps, like WhatsApp, will enable passengers to either complete the payment on the go or defer it by a day or two. In case the passenger forgets to do the payment for the excess weight of the luggage even after the trip ends and multiple reminders are sent, the fee will be added to the booking charges of the next flight.
This process will ensure that the baggage drop process is quick and automated, without any hassle of waiting at the queue for check-in. However, passengers will not have any option of checking the weight of bags first and then shuffling the belongings between bags to manage the weight. Once the bags are deposited, they will go straight to the Luggage Handling Unit.
Automated inline security checks
The next bottleneck in the journey of a passenger is the security check area. Long queues and unavailability of trays often makes passengers to wait more than necessary at the counters, as they struggle to find a place to put items in a tray and then push the items on the rollers before the belt. The process of first taking out items from bags and then putting them back again is so tedious. And then too many security personnel are required to scan the passengers. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it has come into question if the security personnel must touch the passengers for scanning them physically. Inline baggage scanning provides a solution to this problem.
Inline baggage screening systems are automated screening equipment which remotely screen and clear a bag without the use of a physical inspection. Passengers will simply have to drop their hand bags on a conveyor belt and remote screening of the bags will be done. Meanwhile, the passengers will pass through an automated body scanner which will create a 3-D image of the passenger and check for any prohibited item he/she may be carrying. Any anomaly will be signaled ‘red’ and the passenger will have to go back and rejoin the queue after having addressed the problem. Alternatively, there can also be a box in which any small metallic item that the passenger has carried accidentally into the scanner can be placed aside and the scanning be resumed. Once the passenger is scanned to be safe, the automated gates will open to let the passenger pass through.
Also, if any bag is found to be carrying some objectionable item, the bag will be shifted to another conveyor belt automatically and a security personnel will check for the items physically in the presence of the passenger to whom the bag belongs. This will help to automate the entire process and make it faster and seamless for all passengers.
Baggage tracking for transparency and customer satisfaction
Customers also face problems at times, when they end up at the destination only to find that their luggage was not loaded on to the airplane. They have to wait for hours to sort out the issue with the airline staff amid much anger and agony, only to have their luggage arrive at the destination by the next flight. I know the pain of waiting unnecessarily for one’s forgotten and mishandled luggage as I faced the exact same problem once during my travel from Bengaluru to New Delhi. One can easily guess which airline I had the misfortune of traveling with.
Baggage tracking can be made possible with the barcodes pasted on the luggage bags. Each time the bag crosses a checkpoint, the barcode will be scanned and a message will be sent to the owner of the bag, identified by the PNR. This way, the passenger will know which stage the bag has reached in the luggage handling process and if it has been loaded on the airplane or not. If the passenger fails to get the final luggage loading message, the passenger can inform the airplane staff about it, asking for a quick check. This ensures that the baggage is handled correctly and there is complete transparency over the process.
Boarding process to get more disciplined
Even though the ground staff keeps shouting on top of its voice about the seating rows to be occupied first, we usually find all passengers queuing up regardless of which seat they have booked. This leads to hassles in the boarding process and unnecessary delays for all passengers. How about automating the entire process and instituting discipline in the passengers?
Automation of the boarding process is also a lucrative area for airport authorities who want to streamline the operations where the journey of a passenger ends with a particular airport. Automated gates can announce the start of the boarding process and the seat numbers can be displayed in an overhead screen. Passengers will be required to scan their boarding pass to get an entry one at a time. In case anyone with an uninvited seat number shows up, the gates won’t open and will request the passenger to step aside. A ground staff shall be available to help in case of technical glitches. This will ensure smooth occupation of seats and quicker completion of the boarding process.
Baggage arrival without anxieties
Passengers can very well be found waiting anxiously for their luggage at the destination airport. Eyes keep on skimming over the various hues placed on a dark conveyor belt. Sometimes, people also happen to unload someone else’s bag, only to realize their mistake later. And some people even frown at the process, worrying that their bag would have been lost.
The barcode tracking can be a huge relief for all passengers in this regard. The luggage handling unit at the destination airport will have barcode scanners to read the barcode on each bag. As and when a bag passes through the various checkpoints, the location of the bag will be notified to the owner. The passengers will know how far their bag is from the belt and the tentative time by which it will arrive. This will eliminate any need of huddling around the belt and waiting for several minutes. People can be seated around the belt and only those who are notified of their bag’s arrival on the belt can approach the belt for luggage collection. This will remove any anxiety from the minds of passengers as they will have complete visibility over the status of their luggage.
Routes from the airport to load automatically
Once the luggage has been collected, the passenger will get notified on the routes to bus service and cab services from the arrival gate. The passenger won’t have to look for directions and won’t have to struggle with language issues in foreign countries. They will know exactly where to go and how to catch their preferred mode of commute to reach their final destination.
Final thoughts
Airports are a cauldron of impending innovations. A lot can happen in the airport terminals if the right technologies are brought to reality. We shall have all processes automated in the airports and the entire passenger journey from the departure gate to the arrival gate will become much more fulfilling, transparent and enjoyable. A few of these technologies, like inline scanning system, have already made their way into various international airports, while a lot many are yet to come up to make the passenger journey seamless. Digital transformation of airports is just round the corner and you may find these new processes in place in a matter of just a few years.
