New Technology That Doesn’t Serve The Passenger?

Use only reliable, thoroughly
tested technology that serves your people and processes. (Rule
8 of The Toyota Way)

Being the geek that I am, I took advantage of the chance
to try the new American Airlines mobile flight check-in process. I
can’t say I would jump to try it again. I can’t say
that the mobile option made my experience at O’Hare any
easier

Let’s compare the process options:

1. Print paper boarding pass at home/work
2. Print paper boarding pass at airport kiosk
3. 
   Use mobile boarding pass on BlackBerry
4. Stand in line at airport to talk to crabby agent.

OK, Option 4 is ruled out. That was easy.

Initial Check In and Obtaining Boarding Pass:

Log into American website on PC (same for 1, 2, 3).
Moderate hassle factor (why does the website NEVER remember who I
am, even though I always click the “Remember Me”
button?)

Get boarding pass.
Option 1 — print at home or office, assuming you’re not out
of paper or ink, the hassle/time/cost factor is very low. If you
don’t have a printer, or there is a glitch in Option 1, you
can always use Option 2. I can’t remember ever waiting more
than a few seconds for a kiosk at any airport lately. Compared to
old process of waiting in a long queue to see an agent, Option 2
isn’t very bad either (and if you’re willing to take 2
minutes, you save money on paper and ink). Option 3, you get an
email sent to you with a mobile webpage link (as appears at
left).

Failure Mode A: BlackBerry
glitch. As my BlackBerry tends to do at times, without warning, I
lose some or all of my exchange/Outlook server messages (from the
device, not from my mailbox). This happened, so I have no boarding
pass access anymore on my device. Log into computer and forward
boarding pass link to my gmail account (which also goes to my
BlackBerry and tends to not get “lost” from the
device). Hassle factor - medium (extra time).

Hindsight #1:
Should have just printed a paper boarding pass (would have been
easier at that point).

Hindsight #2:
Should have just waited for the airport and Option 2, but I’m
stubborn and want to try Option 3 (thereby violating Toyota Rule
#11 myself). Shame on me.

Failure Mode B: I
guess you could lose a paper boarding pass generated through Option
1, so you default to Option 2. I haven’t lost a paper
boarding pass in recent memory…

At the airport:

At the security line: Option 1 or Option 2, pull paper
boarding pass out of bag/pocket, present to agent. Can continue
using BlackBerry while in line. With Option 3, I’m not sure
how long the webpage will take to come up to display my boarding
pass, so I “overproduce” and bring up the web page
early as to not irritate the TSA or my fellow travelers.


At the TSA agent: I say, “OK, I’m trying the mobile
boarding pass.” Cue TSA agent to supervisor, “Hey, I
haven’t gotten one of these yet.” Here comes the
training session from supervisor, thereby irritating fellow
passengers in line behind me. Advantage, Options 1 or 2.

At the security screening: Option 1 or 2 — hold onto
boarding pass and walk through security. With Option 3, I hit a
conundrum…. TSA Prime Directive #934B says electronic devices
must go on the conveyor belt, but TSA Prime Directive #342D says
you must carry your boarding pass through the metal detector. Had
anyone thought this through? TSA Agent says to put the BlackBerry
through security (with tone of voice that says, “Get out of
the ‘expert traveler’ line, you numnutz”. I guess
you don’t have to show your boarding pass if you bluff
“I’m using the mobile check in, what do I do?”
(of course they assume the boarding pass has already been checked,
which begs the question of why they normally double-check paper
boarding passes. I thereby violate TSA Prime Directive #2, which
states “don’t think too hard about gaps in TSA Prime
Directives.”

Advantage, paper (Options 1 or 2).

At the gate… they call for boarding (all 93% of us who
are Platinum or Executive Platinum, thereby circumventing their
“efficient” boarding process of boarding us first).
With Options 1 or 2, pull paper out of pocket. With Option 3, go
into email, pull up webpage mobile boarding pass (again
overproducing, as to avoid delay.

Failure Mode C: Crap, my
BlackBerry battery is running low. I hope I have enough
battery.

But then I hit Failure
Mode D: Lack of good AT&T wireless coverage in the
airport. Get “Not available” error from AA.com mobile
website (oh wait, this must be an AA.com error if the BlackBerry
connected to something). Ack, I have no boarding pass.

Go to gate agent and ask for paper boarding pass, running
risk of losing place in line in the crush of early “I want to
stow my rollaboard” “elite” passengers (God, I
hate that term). Get back in line (thanks for letting me cut back
in, consultant lady).

Advantage, paper.

In hindsight, what was I thinking? Unless I’m
missing something, I don’t really see the AAdvantage (sorry
for the pun) of the mobile boarding pass system. I feel cool?
I’d feel cooler with my boarding pass showing on an
iPhone?

There was really no time savings, even if the process
worked as designed. Cost savings on toner and paper, a few cents.
Extra electricity required to further recharge BlackBerry — a few
cents.

“Greenest” option? Maybe it’s Option 3,
but my electricity to recharge the device might be generated by
burning coal.

I think I’ll go back to the tree-killing boarding pass
option. Who knew “print your own internet boarding
pass” would seem “old school”???

Turns out the TSA thinks this mobile boarding pass is more
secure, per the Chicago Tribune article I linked to
earlier:

The new system provides an added level of security over
paper boarding passes, said American spokesman Billy Sanez. Paper
boarding passes are scanned only at the gate, before passengers
enter an airplane.

But mobile passes are scanned twice: at the gate and at
Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. They also
employ encryption technology to guard against forgeries.

“This is something that has been tested with TSA, approved by TSA,”
Sanez said.