Security control queue times tracked using Bluetooth
A new queuing time tracking method has been adopted at Helsinki Airport. Beginning in August, passengers can keep track of security control queue times on monitors.
"The method is currently in the testing phase, but by the end of next month, passengers will be able to see the average queuing times on security control monitors," explains Pirjo Lähteelä, Head of Passengers and Airlines at Finavia.
According to Lähteelä, the method both provides data for developing security control and improves customer service at Helsinki Airport.
The plan is to eventually display all security control checkpoint queuing times on monitors. This will allow, for example, busy passengers to decide whether it would be better to move to another security control checkpoint.
The tracking method is based on Bluetooth technology. Sensors that pick up Bluetooth signals from passenger mobile devices are located near security control checkpoints. When a passenger passes through security control, the system calculates the time taken to queue and be served based on time stamps registered by the sensors.
At present, Bluetooth is activated on mobile devices for using such things as headsets. Since May, Finavia has been collecting queuing data to test their reliability. Lähteelä encourages passengers to leave their Bluetooth function on, so that the sensors can gather enough data, thus making it possible to display the average queuing time.
The privacy of passengers using Bluetooth is fully protected. The sensors only show the Bluetooth address assigned to the device by its manufacturer. The sensors cannot identify the passenger's telephone number or the name given to their Bluetooth device.
Similar tracking methods are already in place at, for example, Copenhagen, Oslo and London Heathrow airports.
Presenting queuing times is part of a project, in which Finavia is working to improve the smoothness and customer service of its security control operations. last spring, queuing times were significantly reduced by restructuring queue management. Opening of the special needs security control line at the beginning of July improved the customer service experience of, for example, families with children.
