[Traveler68]

The last few times I've flown Southwest, I've found their online check-in system suspiciously disabled. The less than helpful message stated:

"If you have purchased EarlyBird Check-In or you are a Rapid Rewards A-List Member, please rest assured that your boarding position has been saved. Simply proceed to the airport to print your boarding pass from the kiosk."

They seem to be using broken software to pressure people into buying premium check-in options - options my company doesn't reimburse. Fortunately, they do reimburse tickets on airlines other than Southwest.

[justme]

When I hear things like this suggesting that airlines would purposefully disable their website, or any part of it, in order to eek out a few more dollars from the consumer, I tend to just shake my head. I think the more likely possibility is that they are simply doing some web-site maintenance. Airlines simply do not have the time or the need to coordinate such a conspiracy.

[Jetliner]

People who perpetuate this type of conspiracy theory crap also don't understand that if the passenger is not able to check in on line it leads to more expense for the airline with having to have an agent check them in, right down to having to use one more piece of paper (vs having the passenger use their own.) and just having someone in the IT department set such a thing up.

It's a computer system. It will go down periodically weather for maintenance or glitches.

The other thing to consider is that if your name is close enough to someone on a watch list, per the TSA you cannot check in on line, but the airline is not allowed (per the TSA) to tell you this is why.

[Traveler68]

That's it, slap down the customer who hands you an honest response about the implications and perceptions surrounding a company's failure to maintain basic services. Label the customer a wacko, so you don't have to deal with fixing the problem or the negative perception of a problem. I pointed out the negative perceptions associate with how Southwest handled the problem, the types of things that affect the bottom line. The responses are prime examples of what is wrong with the airline industry. Airline customers are just so much chattel to be herded and fleeced. If I heard you give these responses to a customer at the service counter, I would fire you on the spot.

By the way, getting just one customer to upgrade to "early-bird" check-in provides about a 1200% revenue increase against the paper that it costs to ticket all the passengers on a 737. And not a single Southwest employee helped me as I stood in line for 20 minutes to use the single self-serve kiosk at the airport.

[The_Judge]

Originally Posted by Traveler68

And not a single Southwest employee helped me as I stood in line for 20 minutes to use the single self-serve kiosk at the airport.

As well they shouldn't. The name is self-servce, which you wrote yourself. Point of the machines is not to have to pay an agent to check you in. It would be defeating the purpose of them if they paid for the machine and all the software and installatoin AND pay an agent to use it for you. This was a pet peeve of mine when I worked and obvously I'm wrong but in my little world, that's how I think. So I left.

[justme]

obvously I'm wrong but in my little world, that's how I think.

I don't think you're wrong at all... Like you said, it's called SELF service for a reason. If someone needs help using the kiosk, there should absolutely be someone there to help, but not someone to walk every passenger thru every step of the way. You might as well get rid of the kiosk if you're going to do that.