KEY POINTS:
The traditional badge of honour for the hardened Air New Zealand frequent business traveller is a gold plastic baggage label, typically found attached to a battered laptop bag.
The label doesn't do much apart from provide a more durable option than the standard paper tag for scribbling down contact details in case your luggage is lost. However, the gold tag is also a signal - to anyone who cares - that you've contributed enough to the national carrier's coffers over the past year to qualify for free access to its Koru Club lounges.
But now there's a new, more-subtle frequent flyer status symbol: a small grey adhesive sticker called an ePass, emblazoned with the airline's iconic koru logo, that has now been slapped to the back of thousands of flying executives' BlackBerrys.
It's probably been stuck on the back of a few iPhones as well, although I suspect most devotees of the cherished Apple devices would think twice before defiling their precious devices in such a way.
The ePass contains a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip storing an identifying code unique to the person carrying it, and capable of tracking their movements through the airport as they pass from Koru Club lounge to boarding gate, making those tedious scraps of paper known as boarding passes obsolete.
Those who hold cynical views of the service airlines provide may find it ironic that one of the industries where RFID has blossomed is meat processing - cattle class and all that - but really, that's being unfair.
EPass is part of a $16 million technology spend Air New Zealand has put into action this month, and it's a useful investment in IT, especially for those frequent-flying gold plastic tag holders.
The aim is to reduce queuing times and usher passengers on to planes quicker. And yes it is also a method of cutting Air New Zealand's staff costs.
The most obvious impact of the new system is at Auckland Airport's domestic terminal where check-in counters have been replaced by new islands of self-check "kiosks" and roving staff to oversee process.
If you're not among the 100,000 frequent flyers sent an ePass, the kiosk will give you a printed boarding pass to be scanned at the departure gate, or you can have a scan-able barcoded version sent to your mobile phone.
I've flown using the new system five times this month and it seems to work fine. I like the novelty of the string of green lights that flash when you swipe your boarding pass or phone at the machine on the gate. It's like winning a pokie jackpot where the prize is entry on to the flight you've paid for.
For frequent flyers, an excellent part of Air New Zealand's overall tech upgrade is its new, personalised website for airpoints scheme members: www.myairnz.com.
The site is cleverly designed and offers improvements on the previous online booking process. It allows users to tinker with their bookings, such as select seats.
You can personalise the display of the site and it will show you the weather forecast for your next destination.
The system will reach its full potential for frequent flyers once the airline completes the installation of scanners at its 26 domestic terminals around the country.
This will include putting scanners on the doors of regional Koru Club lounges. At present they still require a PIN number to be tapped into a keyboard which, in the day of the ePass, seems archaic.
REVIEW
What: Air New Zealand's self-scanning technology, launched this month.
Price: Free - well, included in the ticket price.
Herald rating: * * * *
