Upcoming Events

Cloud Connect
Santa Clara
Feb 13-16, 2012

Cloud Connect brings together the entire cloud eco-system to better understand the transformation we're experiencing and promises to be the defining event of the cloud computing industry. Learn about the latest cloud technologies and platforms from thought leaders in Cloud Connect’s comprehensive conference.

Register Now!

F E A T U R E

Air Power

April 17, 2003
By David Joachim

>> continued from previous page

Personal Touch

	Issue TOC
	Print full article
	Print this page
	Download as PDF
	E-Mail this URL
	Discuss this article
	Flame the author

	In this article
	Introduction
	Personal Touch
	CUTE Problems
	Further Expansion
	On Location, Series 3
	Vital Stats
	Who's Who at MCarran International Airport

McCarran's solution is to deploy common-use self-service kiosks, which officials call CUSS. Passengers can use these touch-screen terminals to print out boarding passes and bag tags for travel with any airline.

"Everybody's logo is on the touch screen," Walker says. "I touch my airline and am immediately launched into its kiosk system." Without the common-use technology, McCarran would have to limit airlines to one or two kiosks apiece. With CUSS, they get 38 shared kiosks to start, all of which "function just as their normal application would," says Sam Ingalls, McCarran's information systems manager.

McCarran is also footing the $2.5 million bill to deploy the kiosks and related network infrastructure; this is another service McCarran provides to tenants as part of its rates and charges, which average $5.10 per passenger.

The CUSS specifications were finalized by IATA last month, and the initial 38 terminals, all running Microsoft Windows 2000, are due to go live April 30. The Arinc systems connect to the airlines' back-end reservation systems in much the same way as the CUTE systems. This trend toward self-service kiosks may compel Southwest and other discounters to adopt CUTE.

Southwest is developing its own self-service kiosks. The next step will be to evaluate the CUTE and CUSS specs to make sure the code Southwest develops for its McCarran operation is reusable in other airports, says Robert Shaffer, a manager in Southwest's interactive marketing department.

Shaffer says Southwest's IT department has been occupied with higher priorities since 1997, when McCarran first went live with CUTE. It started with Y2K remediation, then an upgrade of the airline's reservation system, which is now almost complete. CUTE is next on Southwest's agenda, he says.

Not So Easy

To say that CUTE systems make counter positions and gates fully interchangeable is an oversimplification. It's not so easy to shift around the ground-handling equipment outside each gate, so for one carrier to replace another quickly, its ground equipment must be nearby, experts say. McCarran must be mindful about which airlines are most likely to share gates so it can place them near one another. There was some gate-sharing prior to CUTE; temporary podiums were rolled in, equipped with a carrier's proprietary terminal.

The next step at McCarran will be to deploy self-service kiosks inside hotels on the Las Vegas strip. Passengers will be able to check in, print a boarding pass and bag tags, and give their baggage to handlers to take to the airport. These Windows 2000 units are the same as the CUSS systems in the airport, only they're connected to the airport over 56-Kbps WAN circuits. Off-site check-in would be impossible without common-use equipment, because hotels would never devote enough space for each airline to run its own terminal equipment, says David Bourgon, who as airline systems manager oversees the CUTE and CUSS systems at McCarran.

The Las Vegas Convention Center is scheduled to set up four to six self-service kiosks by July. Beyond that, McCarran must negotiate with hotels individually.