While other airlines are dissuading customers from transacting business at the airport, by imposing penalty fees, American Airlines is looking to smoothe things for passengers at the counter. At Boston Logan Airport, the airline is testing a new set of mobile check-in devices.
The machines, called “Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere,” or YADA — insert Seinfeld joke here — won’t be tied to a specific spot. Instead, AA staff will be able to rove around, checking bags, printing boarding passes, clearing upgrades (!), and providing flight and gate information. The program is designed to reduce wait-times. It sounds like they’ll need a skycap tailing them, to carry the bags off.
It’s a six-week test, so it will be interesting to see how the new procedure plays out in the real world.
Boston AA travelers: Please post your experiences with the YADA in the comments!
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July 24th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
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RT @upgradetravel: New post: American Airlines tests mobile bag check-in at Boston Logan Airport [link to post]
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July 24th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
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American Airlines tests mobile bag check-in at Boston Logan Airport: While other airlines are dissuading custome.. [link to post]
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July 25th, 2009 at 1:13 am
This doesn’t seen fair. What about all the folks that wait patiently in line, only to watch a lucky few waltz into the airport and bump into Mr. Check-in?
July 25th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
This is a fair point, but I’m not yet sure how they’ll implement the “roaming” check-in stations in practice. True, you don’t want to privilege a person who just walked in the door over a person who waited their turn.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:04 am
Jet Airways (9W) and Kingfisher (IT) have had this for quite some time in India – checkin staff with a PDA and a small boarding pass printer slung on their belt. If you have hand luggage only, they’ll check you in and you go straight to the gate. Else you check in with them, get your boarding pass, and then go to the e-checkin bag drop counter to check your bags.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Thanks for clarifying, Suresh!
October 3rd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
[...] is currently testing mobile check-in at Logan Airport. AA employees will carry the devices, called "Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere" (YADA), and use them to help passengers print boarding passes, check in, and even clear upgrades, [...]