A regularly pleasant airport experience

Published: Tuesday, 26 March 2013

One day, as if overnight, all the airport check-in people and desks disappeared.  In their place appeared computerised self-tagging stations.  Across the expanse where people would usually queue was a scattering of self- check-in stations.  Some were solely Club card activated, and all of the others allowed for a number of inputs.  Result?  Hardly anyone ever needs to wait to check themselves in and get through the process.

The difference is particularly noticeable when you don't travel with QANTAS and have to wait for 30 minutes to check your bag in, amongst a crowd of people that barely moves.

By giving the power to the passengers to check themselves in, attach their own bags tags and answer questions about their luggage, it has made the process of travelling easy.

I saw a talk given by the guy who designed this system a few months after it was implemented.  He said that travelling is painful, and he wanted to make it less painful.

What can you do to make something painful, less painful?

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Think more

    All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone. Blaise Pascal One of my favourite things to do is to sit there and...

  • The stars won't align

    I was thinking and plotting and planning my startup. When to begin.  Was it too early?  Was the market ready?  Would I waste my time?  Would I waste my...

  • A Tech Schools Update

    A building collapse warning system, a pancreatic cancer detection kit and a self-inflating shirt to stop young children drowning if they fall into a...

  • Obviously successful

    "We would have bought your company." "You just got lucky because it was the right time for that kind of thing." "All the elements in the industry were...

  • Where are you not looking?

    You’ve brainstormed and tried all the keywords that you could think of in Google, you’ve asked Jeeves, you’ve spoken to your lecturers and you’ve...

  • Over-exposure

    Telling people your plans too early doesn't make you less likely to achieve them.  I know when I tell people what I plan to do the response I get...

  • Australian of the Year Awards 60th anniversary

    My last, large, in-person networking event I went to in Australia since before the pandemic was the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Australian of the...

  • The Impostor Syndrome

    I first learnt about the impostor syndrome at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing in 2011.  A Stanford student asked a question...

  • KOOKIE, Fantastic Failures, Young Heroes, Entrepreneurs and Total Girl

    I featured in some magazine articles, books and on the tv recently. Here are some of them! This was KOOKIE magazine, where I was interviewed by...

  • Lack of inhibitions

    Getting myself in the mood to write can be difficult. Sometimes, when I'm out and about, my brain comes up with one or two ideas at once, and I...