Running for the departure gate, wrestling with duty free shopping bags and trying to find your boarding pass, hoping that little perforated bit hasn’t accidentally ripped off and gotten lost somewhere. We’ve all been there. So think how easy it would be to use your phone to board instead.
American Airlines has begun trials using mobile phone boarding passes for domestic passengers traveling out of US airports. The North American carrier hopes that if the technology is successful, it will not only cut down on paper waste, but also make it quicker and easier for passengers to check in.
Customers can check in online from a computer or phone, and then they will be sent a virtual boarding pass in the form of a barcode, which can then be scanned before you go through security from the handset screen. Anything from the simplest phone like the bargain Samsung B130 to the most modern BlackBerry Storm could be used.
The American Airlines system is being trialled at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, and will be available at Los Angeles International and John Wayne Orange County airport from 17 November.
Continental Airlines also tested mobile boarding passes late last year in seven airports, as did Delta Airlines earlier this year at New York’s LaGuardia airport.
TBC | £TBC | American Airlines
