London Luton was displaying similar wait times when I traveled through it last week, and I was wondering how they did it. I thought they might be doing some kind of face recognition using the cameras at entry/exit to the hall.
JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
81–90 of 102 posts
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#82Of what use is this information to the people standing in line? "Oh, it's 30 minutes. I guess I'll hurry."
It's right there in the article: > With this data, JFK is able to display accurate wait times to reduce passenger frustration and to notify staffing if areas in the terminal are becoming congested, so staff can identify and rectify bottlenecks before they escalate. If you're confused about the first part, there is research that shows waiting for an unknown amount of time causes more anxiety than if the wait time is k…
Reminds me of the story about baggage claim at Houston's airport. They kept getting lots of complaints about how long it took for people to wait for their bags after getting off their flights. To fix this they moved the claim area further away from the gate, it took people longer to get there but the same amount of time for the bags to reach the claims area. Complaints went way down.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/why-waitin...
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#83I hope it didn't cost more than hiring extra people to get the mega-lines through faster.
That definitely goes against my hacker instincts where if I can automate a daily task with the amount of time that it would take me to do it in a few days, I go ahead and automate it.
Yep, I think the same way. I always prefer to spend a lot of time upfront on something and automate it instead of doing it over and over later. I try to avoid repetitive tasks as much as I possibly can.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#84When a device passes the beacons, its non-personal unique ID—called a MAC address—is recorded, encrypted and time-stamped. Blip, you make me laugh. You know this will raise privacy concerns and say the sweet nothings that placate the general public, but inspire no confidence in people who know what those words mean. I'm not here to say that as a JFK traveler I'm unhappy with the privacy considerations. I just want to…
Just to be clear, they're using encrypted in a layman's sense; according to http://www.blipsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BlipTr..., it's hashed with SHA256.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#85I am just curious. Wouldn't it be more easier to do this with specific devices than using the phones? Each passenger can be given a smart card along with the boarding pass (or embedded in the boarding pass). The sensors could merely check for the smart card at certain points and determine how long it took for the passenger to clear security, etc. The airline can then collect the smart card back just before boarding w…
I've seen this done in airports before, only using a plain laminated card that you carry through the line - the low-tech solution. The card was used by the TSA to internally track wait times
They used to do this at theme parks as well
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#86When a device passes the beacons, its non-personal unique ID—called a MAC address—is recorded, encrypted and time-stamped. Blip, you make me laugh. You know this will raise privacy concerns and say the sweet nothings that placate the general public, but inspire no confidence in people who know what those words mean. I'm not here to say that as a JFK traveler I'm unhappy with the privacy considerations. I just want to…
Just to be clear, they're using encrypted in a layman's sense; according to http://www.blipsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BlipTr... , it's hashed with SHA256.
For those unsure, SHA256 is worthless here. There are few enough MACs and SHA2 is fast enough that it's easy to reverse.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#87Perhaps, just perhaps... they should be spending money on additional stations to NOT have lines in the first place?
You know, fight the cause rather than the symptom :-)
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen this done in airports before, only using a plain laminated card that you carry through the line - the low-tech solution. The card was used by the TSA to internally track wait times
They used to do this at theme parks as well
Disneyland in Anaheim still does. They use it to update the wait time signs at the entrance to each ride and, just recently, their official wait time mobile app.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that planes going into buildings is the major security concern, but we fixed it. We've reinforced the cockpit doors and we've taught passengers not to cooperate with hijackers (the latter we managed within hours of the first attack)
Plus panic buttons & guns in the cockpit, new procedures for aircraft leaving their scheduled route, and passenger's reaction to a hijacking (e.g. one "bad guy" with a switchblade is nothing against 300 people who fear NOT doing anything will endanger their lives).
Pilots have a panic button. It's called squawking code 7500. Alerts ATC that there is a hijacking situation (7700 is general emergency.) Guns in airplanes are a bad idea for, well, quite a few reasons.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#90One of the photos shows the system in use at the DHS immigration line. Aren't there notices all over this place telling travelers that cellphone use is strictly prohibited before passing the checkpoint? It seems strange that the airport relies on people breaking the law to provide better service...