Postings from Germany
Part Two
AS EXPECTED, the Germans are efficient and on time. Nothing bothers them as much as people not being punctual. I've been impressed with their efficiency.
Our flight to Munich took 55 minutes on AirBerlin. We're out of the airport and sitting in the bus 15 minutes after we landed. We didn't have to wait 5 minutes for our bags. It's all so fast.
Labour is expensive so the Germans are turning to technology to help with customer service. We'll know of phone, online and mobile check-ins for flights. The Germans have taken it one step further.
Passengers can download their boarding passes into their cellphones. The boarding passes with the barcode contain information like seat number, boarding time and gate number. Pass this barcode over a scanner and you're on your way.
This new service has just been launched and the airlines have taken newspaper ads to promote it. Nothing was said about the luggage but I would assume one of two things: You can walk up to a counter to check-in your bags as you would when you do a mobile, online or phone check-in. But I think, it will be a self-service kiosk.
Once the barcode boarding pass is authenticated by the kiosk, then it will ask if you've luggage. If you do, then it'll print the luggage tags and you attach it to your bags and put it on a conveyor belt.
In Singapore self-service kiosks are already available for some SQ flights. In the US, it's very common. It's a good way of saving labour and time.
Watch out for my next posting in Berlin.