Improved system aims to take
guessing,
frustration out of Pacific space-A travel
By Jennifer H. Svan, Yokota
bureau chief
Jennifer Svan/ Stars and Stripes
Lisa Erickson, her daughter Morgan, and Tanya Pope wait for a space-available flight
at Yokota Air Base, Japan. A new check-in and roll-call system will soon make
space-A flights more convenient. |
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Space-available flights in the Pacific should soon be
more customer-friendly.
A new system to speed boarding time and better inform travelers of seat availability is
expected to hit all Pacific Air Mobility Command passenger terminals before the end of the
summer, officials said.
Yokota air terminal employees already use the new procedure on some flights for
training purposes. It will be extended to all flights Tuesday.
"It takes the mystery out of space-available (travel), that uneasy feeling of
whether they’re going to be on," said Capt. Randy Koram, officer-in-charge at
Yokota’s AMC terminal.
Active-duty military personnel, their dependents and military retirees may fly for free
on flights that have available space after those on official military business or on
emergency leave are serviced.
As it stands now, travelers don’t know if they’re booked on a space-A flight
until just prior to boarding. When the flight is announced three hours prior to departure,
passengers check in with their travel documents. They are then ranked based on travel
category and time of initial sign-up. Then they wait to see if they’ll get on a
flight.
Retiree Al Stembridge has sometimes waited up to two hours after the space-A call, only
to be bumped from a flight.
"Anything must be an improvement from my experience," he said last week while
waiting for a return flight home to California.
The drawn-out process of checking in for a flight was a sore point with space-A
travelers, said Master Sgt. Bob Tura, superintendent of passenger operations at
Yokota’s terminal.
Under the new system, passengers will be able to check in and get their documents
processed up to 24 hours before flight time.
Then, 30 minutes before the space-A call, a computer printout will be posted of
registered passengers in order of priority.
Prior to boarding, the list will be used for a roll call. "We’re just trying
to streamline the whole process," said Master Sgt. Kurt Music, passenger operations
manager at the terminal. During a test run last week, "We had 32 passengers at the
counter going on a flight; it took us five minutes to do roll call."
The new procedure was first implemented earlier this year at Travis Air Force Base in
California on a 90-day trial period, Music said. After "it proved that it improved
the process, headquarters said make it happen," he said.
The system is expected to eventually be in place at all military passenger terminals
worldwide.
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