October, 2004 | |
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Finnair introduces text message check-in service
In what it calls a first in international air travel, Finnair says it will let its frequent fliers check in using
text messages on mobile phones. The program begins in October and is open to the airline's Finnair Plus
cardholders. It will let those passengers who have only carry-on luggage go directly to the departure gate,
bypassing ordinary check-in procedures. Like other passengers, they will have to go through a metal detector and
security check. Once passengers have activated the service, they will automatically receive a
check-in text message from Finnair before a flight with details, including the seat number. A passenger
need only send a reply to confirm the seat assignment. The text message service will apply to all
international flights leaving from Helsinki and Stockholm. Finnair said its check-in using SMS, or Short
Message Service, is the first worldwide to work on all mobile phone models and all networks without charges.
Other airlines offer similar services that notify passengers of flight delays, schedules, or available seats.
Wrong-airport pilots axed
Northwest fired the pilots who mistakenly landed last June at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota
instead of the Rapid City regional airport 7 miles away. The carrier originally designated the pair
"held from service" while the Federal Aviation Administration and company management investigated
the incident. The fired pilots -- whom neither their union nor management would identify -- are taking
the matter to grievance procedures, Will Holman, spokesman for the Northwest Air Line Pilots Association,
told the Associated Press. "We believe the punishment is excessive," he said. "Since the incident,
charts and navigational databases have been modified to clearly show both." He said there "have been
several previous instances" of pilot confusion between the base and the airport, but none involving Northwest pilots.
Leading Economic Indicators
McDonald's franchisees in Cape Girardeau, MO, Brainerd, MN, and Norwood, MA, recently began outsourcing
their drive thru order-taking to a call-center in Colorado Springs, CO. Thus, a Big Mac order shouted into
a microphone in Missouri gets typed into a computer in Colorado (and a digital photograph of the
customer's car is taken to reduce errors) and then clicked back to the originating restaurant's kitchen,
which has the order ready in less time (30 seconds less, on average, with fewer errors) than the average McDonald's
takes.
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