Centerlines - April 2008 - (Page 32) REMOTE AIRLINE CHECK-IN Two of the nation’s top vacation playgrounds have instituted a popular service to allow their guests to play a little longer and stress a little less B Y N ICOL E N E L S ON SAFET Y AND SECURIT Y F REMOTE airline check-in is fast becoming a customer service initiative embraced by all stakeholders participating in this secure processing procedure. rom Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas to The Venetian Resort, remote airline check-in is fast becoming a customer service initiative embraced by all stakeholders participating in this secure processing procedure. “The ability to process passengers outside of traditional airport bounds is absolutely phenomenal for all of the parties involved—for the airports, the airlines, and most importantly, the passenger,” said Samuel G. Ingalls, assistant director of aviation at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS). “I like to say that it is taking the airport to the customer and processing them in a place that is convenient to them.” Ingalls said that LAS customers are very pleased with the service, dubbed Airport SpeedCheck Advance, that also increases efficiency for the air carriers and the airport. The service allows guests to bypass airport lines by checking their luggage and receiving their boarding passes at four off-airport properties: The Venetian Hotel, Luxor Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas Convention Center and Las Vegas McCarran Rent-A-Car Center. To use the service, which is administered by Bags To Go, Inc., guests take their luggage to an Airport SpeedCheck Advance common-use self-service kiosk. A service fee of $20 is charged to check up to three pieces of luggage per passenger, which ensures baggage is securely transported to an access controlled facility at the airport. After screening by TSA personnel, the bags are delivered to the airline to be loaded on the customer’s flight. When LAS initiated the program less than two years ago, Southwest Airlines was the sole air carrier involved in Airport SpeedCheck Advance. By 2007, four of the airport’s top five carriers—Southwest, US Airways, United/Ted and Delta—were participating. “Now, close to 75 percent of our passengers have the ability to check in on the system,” Ingalls said. “That has really spun up to a critical mass of our customers in the past six months.” 32 CENTERLINES | APRIL 2008
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