iPad Pros power Alaska Airline’s new check-in stations

Alaska Airlines’ new check-in stations are powered by iPad Pros, reports Fast Company. They’re replacements for the conventional self-check-in kiosks that have been commonplace in airport terminals for the past couple of decades.

The Apple tablet check-in stations are part of a range of new technologies that Alaska is field-testing in San Jose, according to Fast Company. They also include self-serve drop-off points where you can hand over checked bags once you’ve tagged them. And passengers on departing international flights can choose to use facial recognition at the gate rather than wrestle with passports and boarding passes, shaving precious seconds off the embarking process.

“What we’re doing in San Jose is really testing our lobby vision out and using it as a tech incubator to test various ideas,” says Charu Jain, Alaska’s senior vice president of merchandising and innovation, told Fast Company. “… “This is the first time that a bag-tag printer’s been connected to the iPad. So both sides – our bag-tag printer vendor and Apple – obviously were key to this.”