Whether you carry heavy or minimum baggage, passengers usually find themselves in a long queue to get a boarding pass for flights operated from Coimbatore International Airport (CIA).
Airline operators and commuters making frequent trips to destinations in the country and abroad feel that opening a self check-in kiosk here would make it convenient for those with hand baggage with less weight. They can go through the kiosk and avoid waiting in the queue.
The kiosk is like an ATM, where the display screen asks the commuter to enter the PNR number.
On entering the number, the passenger can pick the seat preference and collect the boarding pass in a minute or two.
Some airlines provide staff to assist commuters who only have a handbag that fits into the minimum weight stipulated for a cabin bagged that could be carried by them – ranging between five kg to 10 kg. Such kiosks are available in the airports in the metros and a few other airports in India.
In an international airline operating from Coimbatore, of the 168 seats, five per cent of the passengers were on a business trip.
They usually carry only a small bag as they frequently fly between these destinations.
Airline staff, too, feel that a kiosk would reduce manpower and time taken.
A CIA official said that they have made a request to the Airport Authority of India to provide a self check-in kiosk.
He added that the kiosk was provided to airports across the country in a phased manner and that Coimbatore could get one – that is common to all airlines – in the next phase.
(Reporting by
M.K. Ananth)
