European travelers got the possibility of self-boarding a few years ago. It means that passengers scan their bar-coded boarding passes at a scanner, which allows them access to the aircraft. An airline agent is no longer needed. Continental Airlines is now the first airline to implement self boarding in the USA for both domestic and international flights.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) presents it as a significant simplification of passengers’ journeys. However, the reason for implementing self-boarding is not simplification for passengers, but cost saving for airlines. Airlines prefer passengers doing the work rather than their own agents.

Machines are not only cheaper than agents; the use of self boarding also greatly reduces turnaround times. Planes generate revenues by flying, not by parking. Speeding up the boarding process reduces the time planes are on the ground and will therefore increase airlines’ revenues. No wonder that the airline industry aims at 25 self-boarding implementations in 2010.