LATAM Brasil digitalizes domestic flight check-in, wants self-drop baggage checks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – LATAM Brasil airline has decided to waive check-in for domestic flights. Since the start of this week, passengers who buy tickets through the company’s websites and apps receive their boarding pass as soon as the order is finalized. It is the first airline in the country to digitalize the process.

The airline states that should there be any change in flight information from the time of purchase until boarding, passengers will be notified, and their ticket automatically updated. Passengers may also choose if they wish to receive their flight information by WhatsApp, e-mail or SMS.

The initiative should further reduce the number of passengers using airport check-in counters, which has been reduced since airlines began charging for baggage handling.

In addition to automatic check-in, LATAM will also expand devices for its customers to handle and label their luggage at airports in Brazil. This process, called self bag drop, is now routinely used in other markets, such as the United States, but is still uncommon in Brazil.

LATAM has self-service totems for passengers to label and check their baggage in four airports in the country: Guarulhos, Brasilia, Galeão and Salvador. By the end of the year, seven more airports will be equipped. LATAM says the service is being implemented first in airports taking more business flights.

According to Paulo Miranda, LATAM’s client area vice-president, the company’s aim is that soon totems will be replaced.

“We want to reach an environment in which not even totems for baggage handling will be needed. Passengers would use their cell phones to connect to a printer at the airport and print their baggage tag, if necessary. The whole transaction would be done by cell phone. We have already tested it at Santos Dumont airport,” he says.

Despite the expected increase in check-in counters idleness, LATAM is not expected to make cuts in its ground staff, according to the executive. The employees may be moved to other tasks.

LATAM will also review its digital system through which passengers manage occasional credits and refunds for unused tickets. The amount of customers in this situation has increased during the pandemic.

“We will launch a kind of digital wallet that will simplify the use of credits and refunds for tickets too. Ticket rebookings and the use of credit needs to be super simple for the client and today we are aware that the current experience is not meeting these needs,” concedes Miranda. However, LATAM has not set a date for the service to be implemented in Brazil.

Source: Exame

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