GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Airline Swiss and Geneva airport 13 November opened three new fully automated luggage check-in counters, the first operating anywhere in the world, they say. The new service is part of a seamless travel programme the airport is working to develop with airlines operating in Geneva.
Initial results, after six days in service, show the average time for passengers who volunteered to use it was “maximum two minutes”.
The idea behind the self-service bag check-in is to reduce waiting in lines at the airport – to speed up but also smooth out the path from the time you enter the airport until you get on the plane. Some self-check facilities have operated at the airport but these required agents to handle the bags. From the airlines’ point of view, the airport’s capacity is strained at times and speeding up luggage handling should help ease this, industry media report.
A passenger places his or her bag on the scale at the window which scans the passenger’s ticket. The system weighs the bag, prints out a tag and sends it through the system to the airport’s baggage sorting area, and from there it goes to the plane.
The system is being trialled for six months and if all goes well the service will be extended to other airlines. For now it functions for Swiss and other Star Alliance airlines: Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, TAP Portugal, SAS.
The service is available at windows, 77, 78 and 79 on the departures level.
The airline, to reassure people who don’t like the idea of doing their own check-in, says that agents are on hand to help those who use the service, but the airport doesn’t plan to get rid of service check-in counters with agents.