With easyJet, one of Europe’s leading low cost carriers uses the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-F1 for scanning tickets and for the boarding of Passagiere at Geneva airport. The rugged handhelds have proven to be a powerful alternative to stationary airport equipment.

The new mobile solution makes pre-flight boarding faster and more efficient, even if the gate needs to be changed at short notice. So delays can be prevented. Due to the success of the new system, easyJet is considering introducing the new system to other airports in Europe as well.

The search for a suitable solution

“In addition to reducing costs, we also wanted to improve the flexibility of our pre-flight process,” said Graham Cottrell, business analyst Operations Systems at easyJet. “With a mobile solution, easyJet employees can now more easily respond to short-term gate changes. For example, temporary pre-flight boarding areas can be created to minimize potential delays.”

An in-house team of easyJet developed its own application that runs on Panasonic Toughpad FZ-F1 handheld devices. When searching for suitable mobile devices, all leading providers were previously tested.

Popular with the customer service agents

“Our interest in the Panasonic device was first and foremost the integrated barcode scanner,” says Cottrell. “We started a field test with different devices and our agents were really enthusiastic about the Panasonic device. Thanks to the ergonomically angled barcode scanner, you can scan much faster and also they appreciate the size and clarity of the screen. Thanks to the sophisticated design, the device is very easy to use. Our agents can now easily hold the device over the paper or smartphone with the ergonomically integrated barcode scanner to scan the boarding pass without twisting their arm. That sounds trivial at first, but scanning hundreds of passports every day is a big difference in terms of speed and comfort for our agents.”

In addition to the 55 Panasonic handhelds the airline also uses a specially designed stand for the devices. The service agents have both hands free thanks to this clever add-on.