I used it one time here in Houston and was not that impressed. The TSA Agent could not get the scanner to read the barcode (Its not a pdf, you are sent a link to a web page) (also of note I use a BB Pearl) and was throwing a fit about how much he hated the non-paper option. He had to call over one of his more capable peers to scan it. The second guy has much better luck with the scanner and I was allowed through, of course at this point everyone in the line behind me hated me. Once at the gate I encountered a glitch that they may or may not have fixed yet. The link that you use pulls the boarding pass based on the confirmation number, this number is fixed for both portions of a round trip flight. My return flight was less than 24 hours after my flight out, so while sitting in the terminial, I hit the 24 hr mark and was checked into my return flight. At this point the Confirmation number pointed to my return flight and when I pulled up the link for the woman at the gate it was the boarding pass for the next day. They had to go in and print out a paper boarding pass for me... so much for paperless.
Overall I think the intention is good and I am glad that the airline industry is at least trying to innovate. That said I have not utilized this option since this incident. I print out the boarding pass at the office and go about my day.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I used it one time here in Houston and was not that impressed. The TSA Agent could not get the scanner to read the barcode (Its not a pdf, you are sent a link to a web page) (also of note I use a BB Pearl) and was throwing a fit about how much he hated the non-paper option. He had to call over one of his more capable peers to scan it. The second guy has much better luck with the scanner and I was allowed through, of course at this point everyone in the line behind me hated me.
Once at the gate I encountered a glitch that they may or may not have fixed yet. The link that you use pulls the boarding pass based on the confirmation number, this number is fixed for both portions of a round trip flight. My return flight was less than 24 hours after my flight out, so while sitting in the terminial, I hit the 24 hr mark and was checked into my return flight. At this point the Confirmation number pointed to my return flight and when I pulled up the link for the woman at the gate it was the boarding pass for the next day. They had to go in and print out a paper boarding pass for me... so much for paperless.
Overall I think the intention is good and I am glad that the airline industry is at least trying to innovate. That said I have not utilized this option since this incident. I print out the boarding pass at the office and go about my day.