It’s a whole new ballgame at JetBlue’s Terminal 5. The term “self-service” can be scary to some, however, JetBlue has gone all out at making the kiosks simple to use, and has staff on hand to assist those who may be struggling through the process.
Travelers will have a smoother, more high-tech path through the ticket lobby.
“The journey from keyboard to curb can be stressful,” said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s Executive Vice President, Customer Experience, “We strive to make it simple and be helpful.”

To do that, JetBlue has overhauled the T5 lobby first opened in 2008, making it more self-service focused, with 70 new kiosks, self-service bag tagging options, and a dozen bag drop locations. “We moved some walls around, creating 75% more space in the lobby,” said Geraghty, “We’ve eliminated some lines and now it’s a space where people float through.”

The makeover not only reflects JetBlue’s goal of marrying hospitality with technology that wasn’t available when T5 first opened, it acknowledges the carrier’s changing business model and customer make-up.

“When we starting designing T5 back in 2004, JetBlue was a domestic airline, smartphones were just coming out and kiosks were still an unknown,” said Ty Osbaugh, Principal, Aviation and Transportation Practice Area Leader for architecture design firm Gensler, which worked on the T5 upgrade as well.

The new lobby has roving greeters and, by the three bays of kiosks, hospitality-oriented JetBlue crew members standing by to help.

The makeover not only reflects JetBlue’s goal of marrying hospitality with technology that wasn’t available when T5 first opened, it acknowledges the carrier’s changing business model and customer make-up.

Now the airline has many international flights, which means many passengers arrive at the terminals with more baggage and have check-in processes that can take longer. At the same time, smartphones, new technology and the preference of many passengers to do things on their own creates a high demand for full-service kiosks and a self-serve bag tag and drop system that is simple and easy for both novice and experienced travelers to use.

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