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Integrated Baggage and Ticketing Strategies 119
architectural shell for a check-in facility nearly identical to that adopted by Continental Airlines
in Newark. However, from the outset, Port Authority managers knew that convincing the air-
lines to use the check-in facility would be more difficult because of the lack of a single airline
that dominates JFK in the manner that Continental dominates the Newark airport.
What Happened at JFK? No airline chose to utilize the shell of the off-airport check-in facil-
ity, and it was never opened.
Lessons Learned: Off-Airport Check-in Centers
Many U.S. cities, including St. Louis, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York, have considered the
construction of major downtown check-in terminals. In many cases, these projects assumed that
the airlines would provide the staffing to carry out the check-in function. Over the past decade,
this assumption has become questionable, at best. In both Madrid and Kuala Lumpur, where air-
lines chose to staff off-airport check-in facilities, the managements for the hometown airlines
have historically very strong ties with the national governments. Airport ground access strate-
gists are now examining a wide variety of off-airport check-in concepts based on a third party
providing services for a fee. Indeed, the check-in system with the widest geographic coverage is
provided in Switzerland by the Federal Railway--not by the airport.
The provision of full baggage services at off-airport locations is expensive for the airlines. A British
Airways official estimated that an off-airport check-in center would not make sense with fewer than
100,000 users a year. In both the HeathrowPaddington service and the Hong Kong service, finan-
cial arrangements have been worked out to split the costs between the airline (which is providing a
desired service to its passengers) and the rail company (which is charging a high fare with the intent
of making a profit on the operation). When these conditions (potential profit from rail operations)
do not occur, there is a major disincentive for an airline to participate. The provision of specialized
baggage services by third parties, however, is growing in importance, as discussed in Part 3.
Summary
Part 1 of Chapter 5 has reviewed metropolitan strategies for off-airport processing of airline pas-
sengers in which access services to the airport from the prime market area are aided by check-in
services provided in a downtown location or at a transfer point somewhat closer to the airport; in
each case, the basic assumption was that the airline itself would take the responsibility for issuing the
boarding pass and accepting the baggage for the flight.
Parts 2 and 3 of Chapter 5 will examine two additional service concepts: (1) replacement of
air services by rail services for certain short-segment flights, which would require a complete
integration of both ticketing and baggage systems for the multimodal trip, and (2) baggage
handling and transfer for a fee by entities other than the airlines. The U.S. Government Account-
ability Office has recently examined U.S. implementation of various forms of integration of
national air and rail services and functions, as discussed in Part 2.
Part 2: Integration of Ticketing and Baggage
with Longer Distance Systems
This report has reviewed the attributes of good integration of airport-based services into the met-
ropolitan public transportation system, which, as defined here, includes all shared-ride services
immediately available to all members of the public. In many parts of the world, airports are also
concerned with the quality of their connections to other, longer distance elements in the national
system. For example, integration with long-distance rail systems plays a major role in public mode
