Travel Updates

Gate check-in is on its way out

By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

The perk of picking up boarding passes at departure gates, a favorite with hurried fliers, is disappearing.

The Transportation Security Administration has started a new system at six airports that forces all passengers even those not checking bags to obtain boarding passes before they go through security checkpoints. The agency plans to make the change nationwide next year.

The procedure moves back to the main checkpoints the more-thorough screening now conducted at gates as passengers board planes. Boarding passes are critical to the screening process: They carry coding that tells TSA inspectors which passengers must get the toughest scrutiny. Other passengers also are picked at random for it.

The TSA prefers the new system because it puts security in a more controlled environment. Airlines like the change because last-minute gate searches sometimes delay flights. And TSA, which has promised an easier time at the airport, says grumbling frequent fliers should be pleased that they won't have to be checked twice.

TSA and airlines say there have no reports of longer-than-normal check-in lines. The process has been working smoothly in part because passengers can get boarding passes from self-service check-in machines instead of at ticket counters. And the airlines and airports testing the system have plenty of check-in capacity in the lobby.

The airlines involved in the testing also are adding capacity. At Los Angeles, American plans to more than double its 12 self-service machines by Thanksgiving Day.

Northwest has 94 machines in place in Detroit. Its passengers and those on some other airlines also can get boarding passes via the Internet.

Although no industry-wide number is available, Northwest says about 25% of its passengers check in at the gate. About 37% use self-service machines and Internet check-in, the airline says.

Business fliers give the new procedure mixed reviews. "I think this really stinks," says Sammy Tawil of Allenhurst, N.J., who was sent back for a boarding pass when he flew from Newark this week.

But Ed Nazarko of West Orange, N.J., says it's easy to fake a printed itinerary, one way to get through security without a boarding pass. "It's the biggest, ugliest hole in security out there."

AIRLINES SHRINK PAYMENTS TO BUMPED PASSENGERS

Wall Street Journal

Nov. 14, 2002 12:00 AM

Fliers hoping to cash in by getting bumped from flights this Thanksgiving may be in for a surprise: The airlines are getting stingier. Until recently, overbooked flights routinely transformed departure lounges into a sort of auction house. The announcement would set off a bidding war that ended with the happy bumpees walking away with travel vouchers worth, in some cases, more than a thousand dollars, plus a free night's lodging.

Those days may be coming to an end. AMR's American Airlines is now limiting the amount of compensation offered to passengers who agree to be bumped.

Gate agents have been instructed to offer no more than a $300 voucher for domestic flights, $500 for transcontinental or $800 for flights to Alaska, Hawaii or international destinations.

Other airlines are likely to follow suit. UAL's United Airlines already had changed its policy. The airline offers a free domestic coach ticket instead of a dollar-amount voucher, which can often be more flexible, to passengers on domestic flights who volunteer to give up a seat. The ticket remains valid for one year.

"We don't wheel and deal," a United spokeswoman said. "We offer a free ticket. If there aren't enough volunteers, then we have to bump involuntarily."

That's bad news for travelers ahead of the holidays, one of the busiest times of the year for air travel and one that traditionally has seen lots of overbooked flights. The proportion of people denied boarding is down so far this year amid the travel slump. But that will change as airlines continue to pare down flights to accurately reflect passenger demand.

Gate agents still have some flexibility to make special offers. But the big payoffs that fliers have gotten used to may become the exception rather than the rule, since this is one area where the beleaguered airlines can easily control costs.

The government sets minimum compensation levels that airlines must offer passengers bumped against their will, but those haven't changed since 1978. The rules specify that if the airline can get you to your destination no more than two hours later than expected, or no more than four hours late for international flights, then the compensation is the amount of the fare, up to $200. If the carrier misses that deadline, the payoff doubles to $400.

UNITED AIRLINES ANNOUNCES STEPS TO STAVE OFF BANKRUPTCY

America's second largest carrier, United Airlines, has announced an important step in its battle to stave off bankruptcy by reaching agreement in principle to restructure around USD$500 million of its debt.

The deal, with German bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau, removes the airline's obligations due to mature this month and next and extends the deadline to 2007. United's stock price yesterday leapt on the news that it had managed to rework the debt. "We appreciate this significant show of confidence in United's future by KfW," said Glenn Tilton, United chairman, president and chief executive officer. "This is a welcome development in our continuing efforts to achieve an out-of-court financial recovery."

The airline is currently pinning its hopes on securing a USD$1.8 billion federal loan guarantee, but has still to finalize cost cutting measures demanded by the Air Transportation Stabilization Board.

United has warned that, without federal backing, it may have to file for bankruptcy protection.

BANKRUPT NATIONAL AIRLINES STOPS FLYING

Bankrupt National Airlines has stopped flying. The abrupt announcement, made Wednesday, left some passengers stranded at its Las Vegas hub. National says it will not be making refunds on tickets and customers must apply through credit cards companies. Some airlines have offered to fly National ticket holders on a standby basis.

The carrier started low cost economy and first class services between America's gambling capital and major US cities in 1999 but has struggled to stay in the air since it filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2000.