American Airlines getting in on that cellphone boarding pass fad

American Airlines has joined its peers at Continental in offering boarding pass barcodes that you can download to and display on your BlackBerry, iPhone, G1, or whatever have you. Presently the airline is only offering the option on domestic, non-stop flights departing from O'Hare -- LAX and Orange County will start on the 17th. Some eastern yanks might be asking, "What, no JFK or Logan? Where's the east coast love, AA?" Don't get too bent out of shape, boys and girls -- tech-savvy business travelers love their BlackBerries, so we could see this pop up just about everywhere before long.

[Via Mobilitysite]

[helixtimestwo @ Nov 14th 2008 8:03AM]

so THATS what airplane mode on my phone does...

[Tinu @ Nov 14th 2008 9:57AM]

Receptionist: Where is your boarding pass?
Customer: It's in my iPhone.
Receptionist: May I see it?
Customer: My phone just died from playing too much "Super Monkey Ball".

Hehe.

[Jash Sayani @ Nov 14th 2008 10:39AM]

@Tinu

Receptionist: Thats why we have started keeping iPhone chargers....

[Mikeweezer @ Nov 14th 2008 12:43PM]

@Jash

Customer: Where the hell do I plug this in? All outlets in the airport are overcrowded!

Receptionist: Then swap out your batter.... oh. Nevermind.

[iphonerulez @ Nov 18th 2008 2:23PM]

Beautiful Receptionist: Oh, your pass is in your iPhone. OK. Just by you having an iPhone I'll let you through and on your way back, call me it at this number. I just love high-tech guys that carry an iPhone.
Customer: Yeh, I know. This happens to me wherever I go.

[Jamar @ Nov 14th 2008 8:21AM]

Took 'em long enough. How long has Japan been doing it now? Why is America always so far behind?

[erhan @ Nov 14th 2008 9:54AM]

pos American Airlines
FTL
who still flys AA. there the number 1 occupier of the Death bound MD88.
I avoid this airline at all costs.
I highly doubt this would help their business against there bad in flight service and their old planes.

[potato @ Nov 14th 2008 1:05PM]

Easy: Because Americans don't spend on technology. In Asia it's not uncommon for someone to go through 2 cell phones a year. If Americans spent so much of their disposable income on gadgetry, maybe we *would* see this sort of technology sooner. Let's be honest, up until *very recently* almost nobody had smartphones, and even now they're still a tiny minority of all travelers.

Compared to Japan, where every single cell phone has insane capabilities, and what's more, most people had these phones.

[balls @ Nov 14th 2008 2:52PM]

Japan has a homogenous population less than 1/2 the number of the US.

By land mass, it's 1/3 the size of the US.

With a smaller country, and and a smaller, more uniform population, it's much easier to push newer technology.

And given our current state of things, is having a cell-phone boarding pass a high priority?

[kurf @ Nov 14th 2008 8:30AM]

A whole new way for fraud.

[Jash Sayani @ Nov 14th 2008 10:42AM]

Yep. Just launch MS Paint and start making black dots with a pencil....

After making it of the same size, maybe you'll end up generating a boarding pass on your name for some destination.....

[Ian @ Nov 14th 2008 8:30AM]

Why is it offered, how does this more convenient for the customer?


This seems like one of those, "We CAN do it, so we may as well" types of technology that have little purpose, but are pushed anyway.

[Jason Butler @ Nov 14th 2008 10:32AM]

This just means you won't have to carry a paper boarding pass through. Huzzah for one less thing to carry!

[Boarderwoot @ Nov 14th 2008 9:22AM]

dude, just think of how much paper and ink and other resources are wasted printing out boarding passes every day. Even if 1/3 of travellers did this that's substantial savings for the airlines. Will it lead to cheaper ticket prices? probably not, but this makes perfect sense.

[John @ Nov 14th 2008 2:35PM]

Considering 90% of the time I've just finished getting off the phone with someone and also considering that I have around 10000 loose sheets of paper in my bag, I'd say this is VERY convenient.

[iphonerulez @ Nov 14th 2008 4:56PM]

I think it's a fine way for a customer to show off his iPhone to everyone and that he is on the very cutting edge of technology. That'll make a few people jaws drop. That should be sufficient enough reason to warrant that capability.

[nick @ Nov 14th 2008 8:37AM]

What phone is that? some gay wannabe blackberry storm?

[Sergio @ Nov 14th 2008 9:00AM]

LOFL made my day!

[Cybergypsy @ Nov 14th 2008 9:02AM]

NO! its a real phone,maybe you will get one someday!

[dvdman98 @ Nov 16th 2008 2:26PM]

It looks so 2007. Eww

[md @ Nov 14th 2008 12:26PM]

yup i agree. that's a real phone not one of those "storms" that will come and go.

[crashcarstar @ Nov 14th 2008 8:39AM]

Who cares about the East Coast, they get everything else first anyway

[absinthe party @ Nov 14th 2008 9:41AM]

Yeah, like sunrise.

We win.

[Rocketboy @ Nov 14th 2008 9:42AM]

Not our fault you west coasters sleep in so late.

[mOe @ Nov 14th 2008 8:43AM]

Just curious, but don't you need a boarding pass to get through security? I'm pretty sure the TSA isn't too keen on looking at people's cell phones to verify identity. I could be wrong, but if that's the case, this seems like little more than a novelty, or only useful in the extremely unlikely event that one would lose their boarding pass.

[AxelFury @ Nov 14th 2008 8:53AM]

That is, unless you get a TSA-approved smart phone. Only then is everything okay!

[Jigen @ Nov 14th 2008 11:31AM]

Just like my TSA-approved luggage lock, which they CUT open instead of using their keys.

[Ayle @ Nov 14th 2008 9:00AM]

Nothing on DFW??? Isn't it supposed to their main hub???

[Prhime @ Nov 14th 2008 9:05AM]

saw this in action

"is he supposed to put it through the x-ray"

"don't know because he also will need to show his boarding pass"

"go talk to that guy over by the computer"

"what is that?"

"um, give it here, we will scan you through and then flash it at that machine"

saving paper / killing time

[BigD145 @ Nov 14th 2008 11:09AM]

I wouldn't hand my electronics over to a TSA official. Odds are pretty good I'd never see it again.

[Burzhui @ Nov 14th 2008 9:06AM]

TSA can suck it, useless uneducated wasters of my time

[Boarderwoot @ Nov 14th 2008 9:24AM]

I'll raise my coffee mug to that one.

[John @ Nov 14th 2008 2:39PM]

The TSA is the result of government "job creation." Hence, a throng of uneducated 20-somethings with a false sense of authority.

[J @ Nov 14th 2008 9:58AM]

Poor airline employees..do they have to handle each phone to wave at a scanner?
Think about that sales guy that uses his phone in the bathroom stall next to you x 100's of people.

[Ryan Adam @ Nov 14th 2008 10:03AM]

I like it that Brirish Airways has been using this from Glasgow Airport (GLA) for over 2 years.

[Samboini @ Nov 14th 2008 12:32PM]

Virgin use it on their trains between Manchester and London. It fucking sucks. I hate them for it.

[Unique Gift Ideas @ Nov 14th 2008 11:26AM]

Every time I fly, the people at the entrance to the security check area always marks an X on my boarding pass to show that I've been through the security gate. I wonder how they are keeping track of who goes in and out with these boarding passes on their phones.

[hende @ Nov 14th 2008 11:47AM]

still need a boarding pass :(

what is the point

[Kei @ Nov 14th 2008 11:54AM]

Qatar Airways lauched their online boarding with these bar codes too around 3 weeks ago.

Pretty cool stuff.

Made my flight and getting through the airport VERY fast coupled with my E-ID

[David @ Nov 14th 2008 12:25PM]

All of you that are complaining most likely have not used the system. It actually is quite useful and its nice to not have to worry about one more thing when you are traveling. And at the airports they do use it at (I have only used it at Houston's Bush Intercontinental) they know what they are doing and what they are suppose to do when someone has their boarding pass on their phone. its not a huge deal.

[cgoumas @ Nov 14th 2008 1:01PM]

This is lame...how do you clear TSA....How do you get an upgrade....how do you change seats....99 times out of 100 you are going to end up needing to get a paper boarding pass.

AND ...what happens when their optical scanner is down..."I'm sorry, you are going to need to leave your iPhone here until we can hand key in all the boarded passengers."

You know what this is...a cheap way to get some free pubilicity from an idea that it good, but can not be implemented.

[ATARO @ Nov 14th 2008 1:17PM]

I used this service this morning at ORD and it worked great. To answer a few questions:

1. At the security checkpoint there is a new scanner for the electronic barcodes. TSA didn't even touch my phone, they had me scan it myself. It beeped, the light turned green, and the display showed my name, flight #, and date of travel. I don't know if the device was networked or if all of that data was in the barcode, but it seems like it would reduce fraud. Today, I can edit my own PDF boarding pass to say whatever I'd like.

2. The security agent did not ask to see my boarding pass as I stepped through the metal detector. This is probably more airport-specific and obviously can't be a requirement for any checkpoint that supports electronic boarding passes.

3. At the gate, the same scanner used to scan paper boarding passes scanned mine. The gate agent had never done it, but all she had to do was put the barcode in the same place she puts all the others and it came right up.

Assuming people's batteries don't go dead between security and boarding (and the web site that runs it doesn't go down), this is great. Even if it does, the gate agent can always print a new boarding card as needed.

The average traveler may not see the significance of this, but as someone who is on at least 2 planes a week, this is huge. When traveling, I don't usually have access to a printer to print my boarding pass, which means I am at the mercy of the line at the airport. With this, I can go directly to security in any airport that supports it.

[OPFlyer @ Nov 14th 2008 1:53PM]

I tried this a few months ago at Houston, at that time the scanner was a handheld device, so they pulled me off to the side, while another TSA person was called to fetch the scanner, said scanner then was found to have a discharged battery, they fetched another, after a few attempts it worked, and after 15 or so people moved ahead of me, I was able to get in line for the xray.

Waste of time.

I won't try it again until there are scanners at every point where I might be asked for my boarding pass, and that's a lot of places...

[Sebastian @ Nov 14th 2008 1:20PM]

The other day at my check-in with Continental: I checked in at home, printed my boarding pass, went to the bag-drop and then the lady checked me in again ("I need to check the passport") and printed a new boarding pass ("so that you don't have any issues at security").

WTF: as long as we have the - "let me check this with my supervisor" - TSA in place, air travel is a BIG pain and no electronic boarding pass will help.

[superkev @ Nov 14th 2008 2:02PM]

I used this on Air Canada earlier this year while I was commuting between Montreal and Hamilton. I had the boarding pass code thing on my Blackberry. It was a bit of a pain because I had to wait a few seconds for the graphic to display on the screen. Then they had to find a security official who had the special scanner for it. It doesn't seem like much, but waiting 30 seconds in an airline security line seems like an eternity when you've got a lineup of anxious travelers behind you, stepping on your heels. I prefer printing out my boarding pass and just showing it to security. It's much faster.

[CosterMonger @ Nov 14th 2008 2:49PM]

Can boarding passes be hacked with Conway's Game of Life on max speed?