Airport kiosks and mobile check in to expand

If you’re a tech-savvy traveler, the future looks bright for you.

Some of the biggest airports in the world are planning to invest heavily in technology that will let you check in with a mobile device or on an electronic kiosk and board your plane without checking in with a gate agent, according to a new survey of airlines and airports that serve 2.4 billion passengers per year.

“This is the age of the connected traveler with nearly all passengers carrying mobiles, tablets and other devices,” said Francesco Violante, chief executive of SITA, the multinational technology firm that conducted the survey.

Among the survey findings:

--Nearly 90% of the airport operators surveyed said they plan to invest in kiosks, self-serve bag dropping stations and self-boarding stations in the next three years. In 2014, airports expect to spend $6.8 billion on technology.

--Just over half of airlines who were surveyed can notify passengers via mobile devices about flight problems. That rate is expected to increase to 92% by 2017.

--Less than 5% of passengers worldwide now check in with a mobile device, a rate that is expected to increase to 15% by 2017.

Los Angeles International Airport has joined the trend by recently installing 50 electronic kiosks that let foreign travelers scan their passports and customs information to speed up the process of entering the country.

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