Kiosk Flying

Northwestern introduced "complete" kiosk ckeck-in in Memphis Tennessee International airport. It was a fiasco--to put it mildly. I asked for the non-kiosk check-in and the lady present said, "There are none." Yes, there was a person present. I presume that Northwestern believes at a time in the near future, the woman who pushed all the screens will no longer be needed because we will all learn how to check ourselves in.

Bad idea. First, there is a certain percentage of the population (count me as one) whose anxiety level shots through the roof when I see a touch screen method of getting my boarding pass and checking in my luggage. Now this kind lady saw that I had none of the things the kiosk called for so she asked me for a credit card. I gave her my "what do you take me for--a fool" look. I was not about to allow an airline that had gone through bankruptcy to have access to my credit card. Why they might charge a fill-up on one of their 747's. I gave her my library card. She said, "Mr Chancellor, I am glad to know you are a reader, but I need something with a magnetic strip on the back." I happily turned the card over and showed her the magnetic strip. We people in Abilene are right on the cutting edge of technology. It actually worked. And up came my reservation. She walked me through the process of checking in and out came boarding passes, bag slip and it was just like being waited on by a human. Oh, wait, I was being waited on by a human with a very expensive kiosk propping her up as she waited on me.

If Northwestern thinks that I will fly enough and fly Northwestern enough to remember how to check-in on their kiosk, they are crazy. The only thing I will remember is whatever needs to be done can be done with my library card.

I will confess that when I got home, I went to the library to see if 1,000 books had been checked out on my card. I have a really low level of trust when it comes to those magnificent men in their flying machines.