United passengers travelling from London Heathrow airport can now check in online and use touch-free kiosks to process their bags and issue their luggage tags before flying. Like many of the other airlines at Heathrow (including Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines), travellers flying from London Heathrow with United Airlines can now benefit from contactless check-ins.
I’ve had my concerns that this trend in automation and robotics is increasing, when surely the risk of catching COVID-19 is heightened from a touchscreen that isn’t cleaned between uses, rather than a human who uses anti-bac between each customer, but apparently unlike other airlines, United’s new self check-in technology is completely touchless.
United’s new touchless technology means its passengers at Heathrow don’t have to touch buttons or screens at check-in kiosks. The new move is part of the airline’s United CleanPlus initiative to prioritise air travellers’ health and safety during the pandemic. With United’s touchless technology, passengers check-in online or using United’s app, and when they arrive at the airport United’s check-in kiosks will allow passengers to scan their mobile or printed boarding pass. Luggage tags linked to the booking are then printed immediately for the passenger to attach to their bags themselves.
United passengers can then scan their boarding pass at gate readers and are also given an individually wrapped hand sanitiser wipe as they board the aircraft. Overhead bins, seats, tray tables, screens, window shared and air vents are all sprayed to sanitise the cabin, and the airline has also introduced electrostatic spraying on all planes before they depart from London Heathrow, which boosts the efficiency of the coverage of cleaning products across surfaces.