Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Check-in/Ticketing
Check-in/Ticketing
The Check-in model is formatted like all of the other models and uses a
color-coded cell system to keep the spreadsheet clean and easy to use while
avoiding confusion.
The Check-in/Ticketing model incorporates the staffed counter positions,
kiosk positions, and curbside positions, but does not address self-tagging
stations because they are relatively uncommon and minimally used. Use the
toggle buttons as seen in Figure 1, to auto scroll the screen to work on one
area at a time.
Figure 1
In most of the input cells, there will be a small red triangle in the upper
right signifying that a comment has been attached to give more explanation
to the input requirements, and/or more information on the general ranges.
Some input cells and their title lines are conditionally formatted to alert the
user to the possibility of an input error. The user can either keep the entered
value, if it is truly correct, or make a change to fall within the expected range,
and the highlighted areas will return to the normal appearance. See Figure
2.
Figure 2
The Design Hour Determination model should have been completed
before doing this step or an estimated peak hour value will need to be used.
If an estimate is used, just enter the value into cell C11 in the Staffed Counter
section and this will break the link to the Peak Hour exercise and the other
dependant cells will use this value as well.
Work on one section at a time and when all of the inputs have been
entered, check over the sections again to see if there are any errors or alerts.
When all the inputs have been made, the user can make adjustments to the
queue model inputs for the Staffed Counters and Kiosks to achieve the
desired wait times and passenger queue spacing. Figures 3, 4, and 5 show
the way common inputs are linked.
Figure 3
Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Check-in/Ticketing
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6 illustrates the use of suggestion boxes for the user to use to
achieve the desired results for wait times and passenger spacing by adjusting
the queue model’s # of Staffed Service Positions.
Figure 6
The Check-in model is designed to approach the issue of determining the
required number of positions from a single airline or common-use
perspective. The models’ approach can then be adjusted for additional
airlines and the results of each airline can later be summed.
In order to get the basic understanding of a queuing model without having
to create a full-scale design day queuing model, a mini-queue model has
been created to show the delay process at check-in during the peak 30-
minute period during a peak period of the design day. This 30-minute slice of
the design day can be used more generically to show the position
requirements based on processing times and desired maximum wait periods.
The mini-queue model uses an adjusted normal distribution curve around the
center of the peak 30 minutes, with the average flow rates during the peak
Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Check-in/Ticketing
hour as the leading and trailing arrival rates, to establish a stand-alone delay
model. Peak hour enplanements can be converted to the peak 30 minutes by
prior knowledge of the average percentage of flow observed in the peak 30
minutes during the peak hour. Figure 7 gives the overall process of a queue
model, and Figure 8 is the mini-queue model being used to determine the
flow conditions for the Airport Ticket Office (ATO) check-in area.
Figure 7
Figure 8
The approach that is used in the spreadsheet model allows the user to
determine the peak hour origin and destination (O&D) passengers departing
during the peak 30 minutes, which will be in the previously listed range of the
peak hour that occurs during the peak 30 minutes. That number is split into
the three main areas of check-in by profile data gathered through surveys,
and then the 30-minute model is run for each area and the totals are
summed by airline or by the airport as a common-use facility.
The top of the model is a dashboard of current settings and status for the
inputs and conditions that the user is entering. In Figure 9 the dashboard
Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Check-in/Ticketing
shows the status summary as well as some ratios such as check-in positions
per equivalent aircraft (EQA) that can be compared to other similar airports.
Figure 9
The standard staffed counters check-in queue is normally the major
source of check-in delay, but with more travelers using self check-in options,
the queue for using the kiosks may be the queue to focus on. Both Staffed
Counter and Kiosk portions of the Check-in/Ticketing model have mini-queue
models that measure the passengers in the queue and the maximum wait
times based on the passenger and position inputs. The model will help
determine the current level of service (LOS) conditions and, by adjusting the
position inputs for the mini-queue models, the user will see the time and
space effects from position allocation.
The Check-in model displays the results to both ratios in the dashboard as
peak 30-minute passengers per position and check-in positions per EQA.
These results can also be a measure for comparison to a benchmark level or
another airport.
Figure 10
A Space Summary (Figure 10) is provided at the bottom of the
spreadsheet model and will appear with the Curbside functional group. The
dimensions that have been observed as normal or acceptable are described in
the following section and, although they are a good measure of what should
work and be sufficient, careful observations of each individual airport are
necessary to make adjustments on the use and allocation of space in the
terminal.
The ratio approach can combine conventional staffed positions and kiosks
as Equivalent Check-in Positions (ECP). Each airline’s ECP is the number of
conventional positions in use, plus the number of kiosks. The current ratio of
Design Hour Enplaned Passengers per ECP is determined and then either held
Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Check-in/Ticketing
constant for the forecast years or changed based on the existing LOS. The
ratio of staffed position to kiosks can then be varied depending on the current
utilization of kiosks at the airport, and the trends in kiosk use identified.
The Check-in model displays the results of both ratios in the dashboard
(Figure 9) as Design Hour O&D Passengers per Check-in Position and
Equivalent Check-in Positions per EQA. These results can also be a measure
for comparison to a benchmark level or another airport. The ratio
approaches are incorporated on a separate tab, which can be accessed by
the command button as seen in Figure 11. The Ratio Approach Examples
button is located just beneath the Staffed Counter Positions section in the
Check-in model.
FIGURE 11 Ratio Approach Command Button
The Design Hour Originating Passengers per ECP method is shown in
Figure 12. An advantage of using a Design Hour to ECP ratio is that it
requires less detailed data than the 30-minute service model. The
disadvantage can be that it assumes a continuation of existing staffing
assumptions and the approximate number of airlines.
FIGURE 12 Ratio Method Approach using Design Hour Passengers
Another variation on this approach is to use a ratio of gate capacity
(described by EQA) to ECP as shown in Figure 13. This may be appropriate
when the airport is expecting new airlines and larger increases in gates vs.
growth in design hour passengers due to load factors and/or aircraft size
growth within an aircraft group.
Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Check-in/Ticketing
FIGURE 13 Ratio Method Approach using EQA