How Alaska Airlines Cut Bag-Tag Time by 3X with Aila’s Vision Platform

Background

The first airline to implement self-service airport kiosks, Alaska Airlines sought a sleeker and more user-friendly solution to replace its aging and bulky technology. This upgrade aimed to modernize the bag-tagging process by leveraging the familiarity and ease of use of Apple’s iPad.

The existing check-in technology, unsupported beyond Windows 7 and cumbersome for both travelers and agents, necessitated a shift towards simplified hardware to meet both operational needs and guest expectations. To meet this challenge, Alaska Airlines turned to a technology that was already successfully being used by its pilots, customer service agents, and maintenance crews: Apple’s iPad.

Challenge

Delivering a modern and powerful bag tagging station on a unified platform

Alaska Airlines grappled with the limitations of aging kiosks with security risks, compliance issues, and short support lifecycles that left devices running on outdated operating systems. Moreover, the luggage tag scanning process was convoluted, leading to inefficiencies and frustration for travelers.

In a busy airport environment—one that can serve up to 200,000 passengers in a single day—speed and throughput are everything. The goal of expediting check-in and bag tagging without increasing physical footprint drove the need for a more streamlined solution.

While purchasing a more modern off-the-shelf kiosks was an option, the airline saw an opportunity to innovate and personalize the guest experience by integrating iPad-based solutions that could easily scan and read boarding passes and integrate with its bag tag printers, something that had never been accomplished before on iOS.

Solution

One Platform, a Seamless Check-In Experience

Alaska Airlines selected Aila’s vision and automation platform — delivered on Kiosks & Workstations — as a sleek, modern, and adaptable foundation for its next-generation traveler check-in experience. Aila’s expertise in vision-based scanning and ability to integrate peripherals, such as bag-tag printers, with its existing hardware provided the airline with a highly-flexible solution they could confidently begin rolling out to airport lobbies across the US and Mexico.

When it came to standing out in the crowd of bulky and slow lobby kiosks, Aila was able to help Alaska Airlines set itself apart from its competitors with a highly customizable, versatile solution. This included selecting the best mounting option and enclosure color, and even customizing the color of the scan cone to provide the ideal guest experience.

Inside the kiosk, Alaska Airlines was able to leverage the full power of Aila’s vision and automation platform running on iOS. Aila’s platform extends the enterprise capabilities of Apple’s iPad — combining engineered optics and precision lighting with a high-performance scanning engine to deliver unmatched accuracy and throughput in one of the most demanding scanning environments in the world. The platform also integrates the iPad with a variety of printers and payment terminals, and offers a USB Power Hub for integrated power management of the iPad and external peripherals

“From twelve years old, to one-hundred and twelve, anyone can do it.”
– Alaska Airlines

Alia’s scanning experience set itself apart from competitors in terms of both performance and ease of use. The scanning on the former solution was non-intuitive for guests, who often couldn’t tell where they had to scan their code. Aila’s scanning on the other hand, was lightning fast and easy to use for passengers of any age and background.

Results

Streamlining  check-in for more of its travelers across airports nationwide

The deployment of over 100 stations across the U.S. resulted in a 30% increase in kiosk adoption, with enhanced reliability and faster installation times. Transaction times were slashed from 2-3 minutes to just 48 seconds, significantly improving efficiency and guest satisfaction.

During the pilot of this industry-first solution,  troubleshooting efforts quickly ruled out Aila as the source of any issues, underscoring the reliability of the Interactive Kiosk solution.

“3X reduction in transaction times”
– Alaska Airlines

By partnering with Aila, Alaska Airlines successfully overcame the challenges posed by outdated kiosk systems, delivering a modern, efficient, and reliable experience for travelers. The transition from legacy technology to Aila’s Interactive Kiosk not only streamlined operations but also elevated the guest experience, underscoring the airline’s commitment to innovation both in the air and at the airport.

To learn more, get the full case study: