Continental tries out new self-boarding system - Houston Business Journal

A little aviation news to keep with the theme of this blog...and to break-up some of the political warfare that has been coming out lately...

Continental Airlines is doing a limited self-boarding test at their Houston Intercontinental (IAH) hub to see how this system goes (click on the link above to read the whole story). The Hat Trick is not sure how this one is going to work out. I like the concept a lot...the Hat Trick has gladly embraced the self-service world that technology has created...from airline reservations, airline check-in, banking, bill paying and a host of others. But from my observations in the travel world I'm wondering how well a majority of the traveling public, particularly the leisure travel segment, will adapt to this system. I realize their will be an agent available to assist passengers and manually take boarding passes, as needed, but I still think it could create a train wreck in various circumstances (think Florida...especially Orlando and West Palm Beach!) if they open this up system wide.

However, the Hat Trick could be wrong on this and, more importantly, I would be interested in the outcome of the testing. Needless to say I would love to see it implemented but then I realize I'm a very small majority of the traveling public. We'll see where this goes but kudos to Continental for trying something new.