But the point is that the problem of the last-minute substitution of a smaller aircraft for maintenance issues isn't something the kiosk software is going to fix. Hell, the kiosk software can't even attempt to remedy simple problems like there being a lot of people needing the flight which departs in thirty minutes stuck in the queue behind the people on the flight which departs in three hours, never mind figure that it's probably not fair to prevent someone who's missed the cutoff time by thirty seconds as a result of the queue from trying to run to the gate.

Disgruntled business people missing part of the trade show they'd bought the flights for, the couple of club scheme members the algorithm prioritises boarding the flight instead of being offered the option of cash compensation and masses of free points for flying tomorrow they might have actually preferred and a VP getting a flea in his ear for the worst airline service ever probably leaves everyone strictly worse off than before. Not to mention how much more incredibly rude it appears to the average person if an airline informs people they can't board the flight they're waiting for via the passport scan machine rather than a sympathetic human that's just going to ring a couple of people to check whether there's anything that can be done.

To be fair, if the machine also tells me it deposited the cost of the ticket back in my account, plus $500, and gives me the option of either 1) A hotel stay and a ticket for tomorrow, printed right there, 2) A list of other flights going to the same destination today, which I can book/check-in from the terminal.

The pain is a lot less, though possibly still slightly less unsympathetic, depending on the mood of the attendant you'd otherwise have gotten.