Several years ago, Alaska Airlines realized that the way ticket counters were set up didn’t make much sense. People came up to the counter, did their business, and then had to backtrack out to move on to the next step in the process. Back in the day, this may have made more sense since ticket counters were actually used for ticketing and not everyone was passing through the system. But as that changed, the arrangement made less and less sense.

Back in 1997, Alaska Airlines decided to tackle the issue with an internal group focusing on improving the pre-security experience. The result was the Airport of the Future that was implemented in 2002 in Anchorage. The design is now also in place in Seattle with Los Angeles under construction and Portland on the drawing board. The result is a more efficient use of space (50 percent less) and people (more than double productivity). While I was up in Seattle, Alaska gave me a tour of the facility, and I put together a little video (sorry for the shaky hand) showing you how it works.

It’s amazing how much better it feels with the open arrangement like this. There’s nothing worse than finding a long snaking line when you walk in the door. This eliminates that completely.

The basic idea was the now-patented two step process. You walk up to a kiosk to start and do what you need to do to get checked in. Then you move on behind the kiosks to check your bag, if needed. There are lobby assistants around the area to help everyone, including those who might not be pros with technology. Instead of reaching a dead-end at the ticket counter and having to backtrack, you just keep walking forward through the system.

The process worked so well that there have been very few tweaks since the first installation. It’s mostly been around ergonomics – height of the computer, bag belt speeds, etc. All minor stuff. In the future, the hope is that the FAA will allow for self bag-tagging and that will speed up the process even more. (A test is underway.)

My biggest question – why hasn’t this happened in other places? There are a few reasons. First, sometimes the economics don’t work. Alaska won’t do it unless a payback will happen within about 2.5 years. In Seattle, the project cost $26 million and the business case was solid. In a place like Portland, however, Alaska is hamstrung by a long term lease, so it couldn’t generate the savings by giving back counter space. I’m assuming something is changing in that regard since Portland is now being revisited.

In LA, it’s different. Alaska finally got through the complicated web there to move over to Terminal 6. Since Alaska was on a month to month lease at LAX, it had a lot more flexibility. That will be done next year.

But what about other airlines? Alaska patented the process but it opened it up so the industry could use it. So far, there isn’t much of that. Delta has done a little of it in Atlanta, but it’s not quite the same. So why haven’t others done it? Part of it may simply be the availability of capital. Most airlines don’t make sustained profits and so the idea of spending money on something like this might not be at the top of the list when other projects seem more important. The money just isn’t there.

Hopefully something will change, because the Airport of the Future is a much nicer experience to start the trip than using a traditional counter.

I’ll be in Seattle next week for the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) 2011 Expo, and I’m excited. But while I’m up there, I’m going to take some time to go meet with the good folks at Alaska Airlines. Anything in particular you’d like me to ask about?

A good friend of mine was running the Ironman Canada in little Penticton, Canada and I was asked if I’d come up to help her drive back down to the States. (It was her first Ironman and she finished with ease – I was amazed.) I figured this would be a lot of fun, and I’m always happy to help a friend in need, so I did it.

Initially I had hoped to try WestJet and a 737-600 but the timing didn’t work out, so instead I ended up flying Alaska via Seattle and connecting into Kelowna. (It’s just an hour shuttle ride down from there to Penticton.) The cost was about $240. On the way back, I took Southwest from Portland using my friend’s award ticket. The most exciting part was my first ride on a Q400.

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August 28, 2011
Alaska 517 Lv Orange County 8a Arr Seattle 1055a
Orange County (SNA): Gate 2, Runway 19R, Depart 15m Early
Seattle (SEA): Gate N7, Runway 16C, Arrive 29m Early
N618AS, Boeing 737-790, Standard Alaska Colors, ~99% Full
Seat 6a
Flight Time 2h10m

I got to the airport about an hour early, and the place was hopping. Despite that, it took only 10 minutes to get through security and I headed to my lonely gate 2 – all the way at the northern end of the terminal.

Alaska started boarding way early – about 45 minutes prior to departure. I had snagged a bulkhead when I checked in, so I boarded later in the process, but it was still about a half hour before departure.

I love the bulkheads on Alaska’s 737-700 because they’re not really bulkheads. You can still stretch out underneath the First Class seats in front of you. Instead, there are just curtains that extend halfway down to provide privacy for the fancy fliers. It’s a much better way to fly than having a hard bulkhead.

I took my seat and the flight attendants were doing a great job of managing the bag situation. Two others in my row tried to put their personal items up, but the flight attendant asked them to put it below the seat. Neither of them thought they could since it was a First Class seat in front of them. Funny.

The early boarding led to a 15 minute early departure. We did the usual Orange County rocket launch so that we could glide quietly over the rich people below. Once over the ocean, we shot up to 40,000 feet and winged our way north.

This was the first flight I’ve been on over an hour that had wifi, so I was looking forward to trying it out. It took me a little while to get it to work, but once I did, it was actually very fast the whole way. I was able to get a ton of work done, alternating with a view out the window. Nice work, gogo.

I had no plans to get breakfast, but the flight attendants came by with a skillet breakfast with eggs, potato, and sausage. It looked good, and for only $6, I thought I’d give it a shot. It WAS good, even if it did come with Hellman’s ketchup. (Who the heck knew Hellman’s made ketchup and why isn’t it Best Foods, like the mayo is on the west coast?)

We landed and I had to chance to meet up with frequent commenter Nicholas Barnard on my long layover. We had a great day of spotting from the central food court in Seattle, and then I went over to my next flight.

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August 28, 2011
Alaska (Horizon) 2670 Lv Seattle 142p Arr Kelowna 246p
Seattle (SEA): Gate C2J, Runway 34R, Depart 6m Late
Kelowna (YLW): Gate 1, Runway 34, Arrive 1m Late
N425QX, Bombardier Dash-8-Q400, 25th Anniversary Colors, ~90% Full
Seat 3a
Flight Time 41m

Horizon’s setup in Seattle is a lot like Delta’s in Salt Lake but on a smaller scale. You check in a gate and then walk out on to bare concrete covered walkways to get to your airplane. Ours was the festive-looking 25th anniversary aircraft for Horizon Air.

I dropped my bag on the “a la cart” station and then boarded. This may be a prop, but it has good interior space. The flight attendants were a little gruff, but other than that, it was a great flight. I thought it would be better to show more details in this 1m50s video. (I’m speaking quietly to avoid bugging the person next to me.)

I really enjoyed the ride – it’s pretty quiet, the vibration is minimal, and the views were spectacular. Combine that with the free microbrews onboard, and it’s hard to think of a more fun way to spend the afternoon.

After arrival in Kelowna, it was an easy entry into the country and my shuttle was there to take me down to Penticton. It’s beautiful up there, but the trip was shortlived. Soon we were driving down to Portland and I had to fly back home.

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August 31, 2011
Southwest 2637 Lv Portland 720a Arr Oakland 910a, Lv Oakland 935a Arr LAX 1050a
Portland (PDX): Gate C14, Runway 28R, Depart On Time
Oakland (OAK): Gate 22, Runway 29, Arrive ~10m Early, Depart On Time
Los Angeles (LAX): Gate 14, Runway 24R, Arrive 3m Late
N908WN, Boeing 737-7H4, Canyon Blue Colors, ~66% Full (1st) and ~33% Full (2nd)
Seat 3a
Flight Times 1h12m (1st), 56m (2nd)

We stayed in an airport hotel the night before, so I took the shuttle over in the morning. I arrived to find the security line stretching halfway down to the other concourse. Despite this, it moved quickly and I got through in only about 15 minutes. Then I went to the gate to sit and wait.

I wistfully passed the JetBlue flight heading nonstop to Long Beach, but my friend had Southwest points to use, so that wasn’t an option. We boarded on time and both flights were completely uneventful. There was a low marine layer at each stop but we got above it quickly and cruised high. The only thing notable onboard was how empty it was. I thought the first flight was light, but the second leg was maybe a third full.

Sounds like summer is just about over.

[See More Pictures]

No bag? Then airlines should refund fee – CNN Out of the Office
I’ve written about this here before. If your bag doesn’t travel with you, then you should get a refund of the bag fee, but that’s not the way it works at most airlines.

US Airways Warms to Inflight Internet – APEX Digest
I’m writing for the Airline Passenger Experience Association’s publications now. This piece was about US Airways revisiting inflight internet.

In the Trenches: Relying on Third Parties – Intuit Small Business Blog
Sometimes, you think you’re as prepared as you can be, but third parties can throw a wrench into things sometimes.

There’s been a lot of talk of supply and demand here on the blog this week, so I figured, why not pile on? Unlike our Monday discussion, however, this one isn’t controversial at all. Alaska has been lowering First Class fares. The result? More people buy First Class seats. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

On its recent earnings call, Alaska said that it had seen its paid First Class loads factor rise by two points in the last year, and revenues went up by 20 percent on an only 7 percent increase in seats. Good news all around. How did they do it?

Some of it is thanks to the more long-haul flying that the airline does. People may not care about First Class for the less than two hour flight from San Francisco to Portland, but they sure care a lot more on a 5+ hour flight to Hawai’i or a long haul from Seattle to Newark. Hawai’i in particular has really ramped up in the last couple years to become a major part of the airline’s route map, so that alone can make a big difference. But it’s more than that.

Alaska President Brad Tilden noted that back in the day, the First Class cabin barely earned its keep even though the fares were really high. Then this happened:

. . . we brought the First Class fares way down, I think our current add-on over the [full coach] fare is $150 in the longest stage length market. I think our customers have really responded to that value. We’ve gone from maybe from 1 to 1.5 [First Class] seats per airplane to four or five [First Class] seats per airplane. And we’ve also done a lot better with the upgrades, the fares that our mileage plan customers are paying to sit in first-class. And if neither of those work, we are selling first-class upgrades at the gate. I think we had a 20% increase in first-class revenue in the second quarter, and we are doing it in a way that our customer, I think, feels like they are getting really good value.

The decrease in fares isn’t a recent thing, but since it was brought up in the call, I thought it was worth discussing.In the end, this has resulted in a big revenue increase for the airline, and that’s great for everyone involved. The airline makes more money by selling more high fares, but the customers win because those “high” fares are lower than they used to be. This was the same kind of thing we did at America West back in 2002, though that was for the entire fare structure and not just First Class. The result, however, was the same.

So why don’t other airlines follow? Well, other airlines have a different passenger mix. Some of the big old legacy carriers actually sell more of those First Class seats, so cutting fares and increasing demand might actually result in dilution. It’s really an airline-specific type of thing, and only those airlines that don’t sell a ton of the high fares can afford to cut them down.

If you’re Alaska and you’re only selling 1 First Class seat per flight, you can cut the fare in half as long as you sell at least two of those tickets. Then everyone’s a winner. And that’s apparently exactly what’s happening here.