Log On and Check In

The airline industry conducted the largest survey ever on passenger use of on-line check-ins. With 100 airlines responding, the survey showed that this practice is accelerating quite rapidly.

Sponsored by SITA and Airline Business, airlines reported that 21 percent of their passengers check in on the Web and use the kiosks at the airport. Carriers expect that number to jump significantly to 35 percent by the end of the year. By next year, this rate is estimated to rise to 49 percent and 86 percent of tickets will be electronic.

Continuing this trend, 76 percent of airlines intend to offer check-in via mobile phone within the next two years.

As far as the carriers themselves go, over half of the airlines surveyed offer on-line check-in, and 89% expect to offer it by 2010. All of the low-cost carriers and the top 25 carriers currently offer Web check-in.

The impressive growth of this trend is smart considering the money saved by the carriers and the time saved for the passenger.

To read the full article, visit SITA’s site.