Flow-through counters. This concept is in use at
some airports, although experience indicates that
future applications may be limited to relatively few
airports. This concept appears to be most successful
when specialized for baggage check-in, where passengers queue along the baggage input, complete
their transactions with the agent, and walk through
to a lobby or circulation area beyond. The principal
advantages are reducing cross-circulation and
increasing baggage take-away capability, by provid
ing one input for one or two positions at linear
counters. This increased capability can be beneficial
at high-volume stations having a relatively high
percentage of "baggage-only" transactions.
One difference between linear and flow-through
counters is the additional floor space required for the
latter - usually 4.6 to 6.5 square metres more for
each bag check-in position, including space for
queuing. Another characteristic is that out-bound
baggage systems become more complicated with
flow-through counters because of the greater number
of individual inputs and the difficulty of merging
multiple inputs into a single transport conveyor or
sorting device, thereby increasing investment and
maintenance costs for baggage systems.