Alaska Airlines is Making a Change That's Sure to Annoy its Customers

A $2.5 billion improvement project at key airports might not work as intended.

It’s an app-based world, whether you like it or not.

From buying groceries to hailing a cab to getting a date, we do everything through our phones now, often because it feels like we aren’t given any other option.

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The problem is that many people feel like they aren’t given any kind of say or heads-up whenever another aspect of being a person in the 21st century is ceded to a third-party app, and they don’t understand why the way of going about life has to suddenly change without warning.

Alaska Airlines  (ALK) - Get Free Report recently started a three-year, $2.5 billion project in key hub airports such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and one of the key areas of focus is modernizing the check-in experience.

So if you bring a bag that you want to check at one of these places, you will notice that there’s no longer the old-fashioned check-in kiosk.

Instead, travelers will be encouraged to check in at home or via an app. From there, customers can utilize iPad-based bag tag stations, where fliers can scan their boarding passes to get a bag tag, and automatic bag drops.

The idea is that this will speed up the process and get people through security faster. And maybe it will for some, but there will also likely be plenty of people who will arrive confused about what’s going on, and who complain as they have to download and register with an app on the spot. (Anyone who ever missed a bus because it took the app too long to complete a purchase will relate.) 

In an interview with TechCrunch, Charu Jain, Alaska’s senior VP of merchandising and innovation, noted this is all in an effort to get people through security faster.

“When we looked at what to do with that pain point, we started reimagining the lobby and looking at customer behavior and trends,” Jain said. “Everybody uses their mobile phone now. So we’re really kind of saying ‘goodbye to kiosks and hello smartphone’ and what that does is it creates a very easy way to connect and get through the lobby in five minutes or less.”

Jain noted that about 70% of Alaska travelers check in before they arrive at the airport, but the company wants to get that number to 90%, and to get people through the lobby in five minutes.

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