Not so New

Today’s article Case of the Vanishing Airport Lines in the Wall Street Journal is about a new patented check in process developed by Alaska Air. Passengers check in at a self-service kiosk and receive a boarding pass. Then they drop off their luggage at a baggage drop station and proceed to the gate. The problem is that this is not new. I flew US Air a few years ago and their check-in at DFW that was the same as described by the article. The only difference is that US Air had a ticket counter that you could go to if you had a problem with the self-service kiosk. I can not remember the last time I checked in at the ticket counter. So exactly what is new about this process? Did Alaska Air copy the process used by other air lines in major airports and then remove the ticket counter and call it new. How is removing the ticket counter original enough to get a patent. Years ago I thought that it would only be a matter of time before the ticket counter disappeared. I remember seeing an article in the Wall Street Journal at least five years ago about the disappearing ticket counters. Maybe they should hit up Alaska Air for some royalties.