Is that, you know, safe?
Continental's new subway-style, self-boarding turnstiles cut human interaction &maybe jobs
Let's hope all those agents that scan boarding passes now don't get let go. Not just because that would be sad, but because it would be nice to have them available for other things like, say, letting us know when our flights are taking off, or whether they're going to be canceled already, or just interminably delayed.
Bloomberg — which first reported about the self-boarding program Continental is trying out at Bush Intercontinental Airport — compares the new automated turnstiles to those in the subway. The turnstiles open automatically when a passenger scans a boarding pass that corresponds with the gate (the turnstiles are only being tested at a few IAH gates right now).
That raises some safety concerns from someone who's lived in London. It's not at all hard to scoot in close behind someone else at the turnstiles without having a ticket ... and I for one am getting a lot of grand ideas about buying a plane ticket to Dallas and then sneaking on a flight to the Caribbean.
If nothing else, it's sad that yet another potential human interaction gets yanked. It's kind of freaky how easy it's getting to go through a day without speaking to another human. Not at the bank, the grocery store, the gas station — certainly not at customer service.
I mean, is nothing sacred anymore?
