When automation goes wrong
By: Sridhar Rajendran
Tags: Design Thinking, Travel, Airports, Design, Service Design

Terminal 4 in Singapore Changi airport has an automated baggage check-in and security check. Both of these processes are quite time-intensive, so automating them seem the ideal thing to do. Singapore airport has always been quite tourist friendly and the time saved by passengers can be better spent on a duty-free shopping spree :) or checking out their indoor waterfall!

But the implementation currently doesn’t work so smoothly. It wasn’t clear that baggage tags had to be printed first before dropping off the luggage at the conveyor. This took some back and forth. When I tried to check-in the baggage, there was some random error which made no sense. My friends who were traveling along with me also had the same issue. On enquiring with the attendant nearby, we were informed our tickets had no baggage check-in option! I understand AirAsia is a low-cost carrier but this tooooo low.

Printing baggage tags and automated check-in / Source: http://www.saagroup.com/project/changi-airport-terminal-4/

Under an ideal scenario, we should have been informed while printing the baggage tags that we did not have baggage allowance. The attendant’s snippy remark didn’t help either

“You asked the machine to print the tags and it did. It doesn’t know whether or not you have baggage allowance.”

That’s exactly the point — the damn machine should know.

This was a rude shock as international flights provide baggage allowance by default. The fact that Cleartrip did not highlight this while booking tickets is a story for another day.

We had to go to another counter and speak to humans(finally) to get help. We were asked to cough up an exorbitant fee/ransom for carrying our possessions back home. Having no other choice, we obliged. The ordeal didn’t end there.

We had to go and stand in another queue to make the payment. If AirAsia is competing with government offices in India, then they are gonna win this round. Once the payment was done, again back to the automated baggage. And this time we were able to toss our luggage and never turn back.

If you are carrying excess baggage, then be prepared to repeat this cycle all over again.

Having spent almost 45 minutes just for checking in baggage, we were concerned about clearing security check. But it turned out to be a breeze.

While entering Singapore, we were prompted to register our fingerprints but never understood why. It made sense during departure. The security check at Terminal 4 is a simple process of scanning the boarding pass, passport, and your fingerprint. If everything matches, you are in. No queue, no hassle. The scanners worked perfectly fine and I faced no issues. It was a pleasant experience. Few airport staff was still present to help passengers, in case of issues.

Security check / Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/changi-airport-to-open-terminal-4-on-october-31-after-more-than-100-trials

Finally, even before boarding the plane, we could scan the boarding pass ourselves and proceed without any assistance from the crew.

If I had to rate the service experience, then the security check totally nailed it while the baggage check-in feature needs a lot of help.

Passengers need to be guided systematically on entering the airport:

1. Print boarding pass

2. Print baggage tags

If no allowance, then don’t print and prompt to visit the airline counter (just ONE please) to purchase. Or better yet, integrate credit card payment and allow to pay directly via the kiosk. If you plan on eliminating humans, why not go the whole way.

3. Check-in baggage

If weight is more than permitted, allow paying directly via the kiosk

4. Security check

5. Board the plane

And have a safe journey.

Terminal 4 is a new building and disconnected from the main airport complex, has fewer attractions and shops as well. While this might sound like a downer, it is a great opportunity to test new service design like the automated check-in given the fewer number of travelers being serviced. Mistakes can be made, lessons can be learned and once the process is perfected, it can be rolled out to the other terminals without commotion and mayhem.

I can see a lot of benefits like reducing maintenance costs for airports & carriers and saving a lot of time for passengers. Maybe we no longer have to reach the airport 3 hours in advance. If any airport in the world can figure this out, my bet is on Changi. Looking forward to a seamless flying experience soon.