Continental’s Kiosk Network Reaches All U.S. Airports It Serves

Continental Airlines has announced it has now installed ticketing kiosks in all domestic airports served by its planes. With a machine going online Dec. 31 at the airport in Reno, Nev., the airline's network of machines now numbers 779 across 130 U.S. airports. Continental says self-service check-in has become the “predominant method of customer processing” since the airline began deploying ticketing machines in 1995. Currently, the airline says, more than 18 million customers?or 70% of customers using electronic tickets?annually use the machines or the airline's Web site in preference to airport check-in counters. Customers can use the kiosks to buy tickets as well as for check-in, selecting or changing seat assignments, and to print baggages tags for checked bags. They also use the machines to buy what the airline calls “Continental Currency,” or scrip that can be redeemed on the plane for beverages or headsets. Continental claims a transaction time of less than one minute to check in and print boarding passes. The airline plans further enhancements for the machines, manufactured by Kinetics Inc., Lake Mary, Fla., in 2004, including international check-in. The announcement regarding the airline's ticketing machines follows by days news of an arrangement between Continental and First Data Corp.'s Western Union Financial Services Inc. unit. The arrangement allows Continental customers who book reservations on the airline's Web site but prefer to pay by cash rather than credit card to use Western Union offices to wire money to the airline (Digital Transactions News, Jan 5). Continental passengers select the cash option on the site when booking their seats. The world's seventh largest airline, Continental flies 41 million passengers per year, serving hubs in New York, Houston, Cleveland, and Guam.