Who Needs Paper Boarding Passes?

For years there have been services which let you receive all your flight data via your cell phone, but none have been approved as boarding passes. Now Lufthansa, which experimented with in flight WiFi with Boeing, is making the paper go away on two routes in Germany.

This is great for those of us who are connected. It means you can be SMS'd your flight details, run the screen past the bar code reader and get on your flight.

That said, don't expect it to happen anytime soon here in the USA.

Comments

[Ellen]

Hi Andy:

Actually, I wrote about this in 2001 for Communications Convergence, RIP. Not sure if it was ever actually implemented, but it was scheduled to go live with Lufthansa that September. The WAP-sent barcode app involved voice printing and verification to ensure identity.

http://www.callcentermagazine.com/shared/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=8701090&pgno=2

[Shai Berger]

Air Canada lets you do this. (Although I haven't tried it.)

[Michael Graves]

Andy,

Aha! For once I can catch you in something. Continental Airlines has already rolled this out in a couple of their hubs. I've used it in Houston and Newark.

It's a bit flaky. They sometimes can't get the wand to read the phone/pda screen. Of course I have a Blackberry Pearl with a small screen which makes it even more of a challenge.

Continental is one of the few remaining sensible carriers in the US. Their frequent flier program is still actually beneficial. They still have a service ethic.

You can go back to be correct as usual. After all, that's part of why I read your blog.