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JetStream Airways is an established airline company that
prides itself on quality of service, on-time arrivals and fair
fares. When JetStream installed new self-service check-in
kiosks at several airports, the company did not see the reduction
in reliance on check-in agents that they expected, and
received complaints about the kiosks from travelers.
JetStream invested nearly $1.5 million to plan, develop
and install self-service check-in kiosks in the airports we
serve. The installation of kiosks was the result of a business
goal to service more travelers with less staff, while at the
same time maintaining current quality standards. Unfortunately,
the investment did not look like it was going to pay
off, because travelers refused to use the kiosks, were unable
or unwilling to start and finish their transactions, or
required significant assistance from check-in agents during
the process. Six months after the installation at a dozen
major airports, JetStream was still unable to reduce checkin
staffing levels. Furthermore, travelers were frustrated
and regularly complained about the kiosks.
Before the team began the Six Sigma project, traveler
complaints had not been recorded in any formal way, so
gathering voice of the customer was our first order of
business. VOC was the primary source of data for the
project. It allowed us to fully understand the issues felt by
travelers, appropriately scope the project, and define a
specific objective for our primary project metric.
The primary project metric was defined as the percentage,
or yield, of travelers who are able to start and end a
kiosk check-in transaction on their own. We knew that
increasing this yield would enable us to decrease the number of agents necessary to maintain the check-in
areas, thereby reducing staffing costs. After data collection
in the Measure phase, we were able to update the project
charter with a defined project objective: Increase percentage
of all travelers who check in through the kiosks unassisted
from 50 percent to at least 80 percent.
A Six Sigma team investigated the source of the problems and
identified ways for the company to increase kiosk use,
decrease the number of check-in agents needed, and realize
up to $2.8 million in cost savings, all without adversely
affecting the traveler experience.
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