Friday, October 13, 2006

The 'op' doesn't stand for 'optional'

The Register reports on a schema by which airline passengers would be tagged while in the terminal.

At first glance I was worried about the privacy implications of OpTag but I'm reassured by the stated motivation

Up to 5% of aircraft departure delays are caused by late passengers or late bags at the gate, and the impact of this in missed slots and subsequent costs will increase as the number of flights increases. The OpTag system will enable the immediate location of checked-in passengers who are either missing or late, and thus reduce passenger-induced delays and speed up aircraft turn around.
Oh well that sounds just fine.

Oh wait, perhaps there is an alternative. Why not forget the privacy-invasive necklaces and just pull back from the gate at the designated time. If Billy-Jim loses track of time in the 'Some Name Here Brewing Company', bad luck for him. He can catch the next flight to the Shriner's convention.

1 comment:

Conor P. Cahill said...

The savings from using the tag are based on the assumption that it's usually easier to find the passenger and get them on the plane than it is to locate and unload that passenger's checked luggage.