Travellers 'embracing self-service'

A new survey has revealed that travellers are increasingly making use of online check-in and other self-service facilities.

Travellers are embracing options such as web check-in that allow them to take as much control as possible over their own trips, according to a survey.

IT and communications company Sita conducted research among 100 airlines used by a billion passengers and found that over half of the carriers now offer online check-in and 89 per cent expect to offer it within the next two years.

Over a fifth of the passengers using the airlines in the poll made use of web check-in and this is predicted to rise to over a third by the end of 2008.

Travellers are also making more use of self-service kiosks at airports, with 37 per cent set to use the facilities in 2007 and 49 per cent expected to in 2008.

Paul Coby, chairman of Sita, said: "Airlines are increasingly using web check-in because they want to make travel easier for their passengers.

"What could be simpler than going online and checking yourself in? Furthermore, it's relatively easy to deploy and saves cost, so it's a win-win for both passengers and airlines."

Every one of the low-cost carriers and all of the top 25 passenger-carrying airlines surveyed by Sita reported 100 per cent implementation of web check-in within their business.