Paperless Mobile Check-in
I've owed someone this post for almost a month now. I just found out that she spent this past weekend crying her eyes out over my lack of information-sharing, which has prompted me to do my duty. :P
(My brain isn't in the mood to be eloquent, so you get to have raw word sewage.)
The TSA is trying to jump in on the boom in mobile tech and has decided to try sending boarding passes to mobile phones. instead of handing over a paper ticket, the traveler bring up their mobile ticket and swipes their phone over a scanner at the security line as well as at the boarding gate.
Since only certain airlines are offering this service currently (and only certain airports are set-up to use this system), I wasn't able to try it out when I first read about it. Luckily, a recent Delta flight out of Minneapolis/St. Paul was a candidate for this service and I decided to give it a whirl.
On the Delta site, I requested that my boarding pass be sent to my phone. I don't have an I'm-So-Cool-And-Hip-And-Fancy i-Phone, but I do have a phone that can receive pictures, so they sent me an image file which I saved in my photo album. The better phones get a file (or actively pull an image from a site online) that has a bar-code square along with flight/seat information. My image file only seemed to have the bar-code square in it. It would have been nice to have the other info, but it wasn't a big deal. (I always check the departure boards anyways...and I remembered my seat number). Hopefully, this will be tweaked in the future.
Step 1: Get past the boarding pass checker in the security line.
This was easy! I had my phone out and ready with the barcode image when I got to the boarding pass checking agent. The scanner was right in front of her podium; I handed her my driver's license and, noticing my cell phone, she pointed to the scanner and told me to go ahead and scan it myself. I placed the image against the scanner screen and was rewarded with a BEEP from the machine. My license was given back to me and I was waved through. Awesome!
Step 2: Get through the security machines.
I was concerned about this part. At most airports, after you show your pass and ID in the security line, you have to keep your pass out to show to an agent as you walk through the metal-n-stuff detectors. The problem there is that you *can't* walk through the detectors with your cell phone (and the person who waves your through wouldn't be able to get any information from a barcode image anyways. Unless they have barcode scanners embedded in their eyes. That would rock.) At MSP, this was easily solved.
There has been a lot of discussion around the necessity of having a boarding pass checked at the detectors after *just* having had it checked in the security line about 10 steps behind you. In Minneapolis, they have decided to get rid of the extra pass check. I noticed that the folks in front of me didn't have to show their passes as they were stepping through, so I sent my phone off with my other stuff to be checked for explosive material and walked through the body detector. Woot!
Note: I've seen some mention of this portion being a bit of a pain for some others who have tried using the mobile boarding pass. In one case, the security line agent told the passenger that they wouldn't have to show their pass when walking through the detectors. The detector agent wanted to see the pass. The guy had to wait for his cell phone to get through the scanner and then had to show the agent the mobile pass, which didn't mean anything to the agent anyways. A little weird. I'm sure it will get sorted out if this process becomes more popular.
Step 3: Get onto the plane.
Wooo!!! Almost there. I practically skipped to my gate and sat, waiting for the boarding call. I looked around and smiled at everyone with their old-fashioned paper tickets which were rumpled and damp with sweat. I'm sure I made people uncomfortable; smiling at an airport is suspect.
At boarding time, I walked up with my cell phone ready to go. The gate agent saw this and I swear her smile wavered. I put my phone against the gate scanner (same one they use to scan the paper tickets) and waited. No beep. I tried lifting the phone and placing it down again. No beep. I was just about to try *rubbing* my phone against the scanning screen when the gate agent asked me what seat I was in. I told her and, as she tapped some keys on her computer, she told me that her gate scanner hasn't had good luck with the cell phones and that she wished they would get rid of the cell boarding passes. Then she told me I could board.
Hrumph.
All-in-all, it was a great experience. From most of what I've read, the gate scanners have been ok. I'm hoping it was just this one scanner. (I've been on flights where those scanners couldn't even scan the PAPER passes, so I'm going off of the assumption that they are a bit quirky anyways.) As a special note, I wasn to point out that I didn't have to actually hand over my phone to anyone. I know some folks are nervous about that. (It could be different at other places, but I see no reason to have to give your phone to an agent as long as the scanning machine is positioned correctly.)
I'll definitely be using this whenever it's available. :)
(My brain isn't in the mood to be eloquent, so you get to have raw word sewage.)
The TSA is trying to jump in on the boom in mobile tech and has decided to try sending boarding passes to mobile phones. instead of handing over a paper ticket, the traveler bring up their mobile ticket and swipes their phone over a scanner at the security line as well as at the boarding gate.
Since only certain airlines are offering this service currently (and only certain airports are set-up to use this system), I wasn't able to try it out when I first read about it. Luckily, a recent Delta flight out of Minneapolis/St. Paul was a candidate for this service and I decided to give it a whirl.
On the Delta site, I requested that my boarding pass be sent to my phone. I don't have an I'm-So-Cool-And-Hip-And-Fancy i-Phone, but I do have a phone that can receive pictures, so they sent me an image file which I saved in my photo album. The better phones get a file (or actively pull an image from a site online) that has a bar-code square along with flight/seat information. My image file only seemed to have the bar-code square in it. It would have been nice to have the other info, but it wasn't a big deal. (I always check the departure boards anyways...and I remembered my seat number). Hopefully, this will be tweaked in the future.
Step 1: Get past the boarding pass checker in the security line.
This was easy! I had my phone out and ready with the barcode image when I got to the boarding pass checking agent. The scanner was right in front of her podium; I handed her my driver's license and, noticing my cell phone, she pointed to the scanner and told me to go ahead and scan it myself. I placed the image against the scanner screen and was rewarded with a BEEP from the machine. My license was given back to me and I was waved through. Awesome!
Step 2: Get through the security machines.
I was concerned about this part. At most airports, after you show your pass and ID in the security line, you have to keep your pass out to show to an agent as you walk through the metal-n-stuff detectors. The problem there is that you *can't* walk through the detectors with your cell phone (and the person who waves your through wouldn't be able to get any information from a barcode image anyways. Unless they have barcode scanners embedded in their eyes. That would rock.) At MSP, this was easily solved.
There has been a lot of discussion around the necessity of having a boarding pass checked at the detectors after *just* having had it checked in the security line about 10 steps behind you. In Minneapolis, they have decided to get rid of the extra pass check. I noticed that the folks in front of me didn't have to show their passes as they were stepping through, so I sent my phone off with my other stuff to be checked for explosive material and walked through the body detector. Woot!
Note: I've seen some mention of this portion being a bit of a pain for some others who have tried using the mobile boarding pass. In one case, the security line agent told the passenger that they wouldn't have to show their pass when walking through the detectors. The detector agent wanted to see the pass. The guy had to wait for his cell phone to get through the scanner and then had to show the agent the mobile pass, which didn't mean anything to the agent anyways. A little weird. I'm sure it will get sorted out if this process becomes more popular.
Step 3: Get onto the plane.
Wooo!!! Almost there. I practically skipped to my gate and sat, waiting for the boarding call. I looked around and smiled at everyone with their old-fashioned paper tickets which were rumpled and damp with sweat. I'm sure I made people uncomfortable; smiling at an airport is suspect.
At boarding time, I walked up with my cell phone ready to go. The gate agent saw this and I swear her smile wavered. I put my phone against the gate scanner (same one they use to scan the paper tickets) and waited. No beep. I tried lifting the phone and placing it down again. No beep. I was just about to try *rubbing* my phone against the scanning screen when the gate agent asked me what seat I was in. I told her and, as she tapped some keys on her computer, she told me that her gate scanner hasn't had good luck with the cell phones and that she wished they would get rid of the cell boarding passes. Then she told me I could board.
Hrumph.
All-in-all, it was a great experience. From most of what I've read, the gate scanners have been ok. I'm hoping it was just this one scanner. (I've been on flights where those scanners couldn't even scan the PAPER passes, so I'm going off of the assumption that they are a bit quirky anyways.) As a special note, I wasn to point out that I didn't have to actually hand over my phone to anyone. I know some folks are nervous about that. (It could be different at other places, but I see no reason to have to give your phone to an agent as long as the scanning machine is positioned correctly.)
I'll definitely be using this whenever it's available. :)