Airport Ticketing System Design: Expert Insights for Efficiency and Integration 

When people think about airports, they often picture planes, runways and control towers. But behind every smooth departure is something less visible: the ticketing system.

A great airport ticketing system is more than just kiosks and desks, it’s a highly-engineered interface between passengers, systems, and infrastructure. Getting it right, the first time, empowers the entire airport to operate efficiently. Ticketing systems are critical to an airport’s infrastructure, making early collaboration between airlines, designers, owners, and contractors essential to ensure the space functions successfully.

Hear From Our Airport Ticketing System Expert 

Ally Schaer, Assistant Project Manager for The Weitz Company | Aviation, focused on the build outs of airport ticketing systems for both Kansas City International Airport’s New Terminal and the Des Moines International Airport Terminal project that’s currently under construction. She has experienced firsthand how vital ticketing systems are to ensure a premier passenger experience, support connected systems and avoid future retrofitting that can be disruptive and expensive for airlines and clients. 

In the video below, Ally expands on how early collaboration is vital to building a ticketing system that will support all airport functions for continual growth. 

Connection Is Key 

In addition to early collaboration, understanding how ticketing impacts other airport systems is vital to creating a thoughtful and efficient design in the preconstruction phase of a project. During this planning phase it’s important to keep these points in mind: 

• An airport ticketing system is the gateway to airport operations, shaping passenger experience, brand perception, and the efficiency of everything that follows, from bag drop to boarding. 

• Ticketing sets the flow of passengers into downstream systems like baggage handling, security, and queue management. Poor design here creates ripple effects across the entire terminal. 

• Accurate, real-time data is critical, as ticketing interfaces with TSA CBIS, Secure Flight, CBP, and airline platforms. Missteps affect both security screening and baggage tracking. 

• Ticketing is deeply integrated with airport infrastructure, including IT networks, biometrics, ADA compliance, fire/life safety, power systems, and structural design, especially in retrofit conditions. 

• Retrofitting ticketing areas is highly disruptive, requiring phased coordination with airlines, operations, and security due to their location in high-traffic, mission-critical zones. 

At the end of the day, a well-designed and built airport ticketing system makes travel feel effortless. But behind the scenes, it’s one of the most complex pieces of airport infrastructure and one our Aviation team takes great pride in building to serve travelers for generations to come.