Air Canada Wins Race For First North American Airline BlackBerry App

October 16, 2009 at 3:57 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Having been the first North American airline with an iPhone travel application, Air Canada has now become the first one with a Blackberry app. The software allows travelers to get flight status updates, confirm their reservation, and even generate a 2-D boarding pass that locks in their seats and sets them up to board the plane. That last feature is the kind of thing that separates airline travel apps from the ever growing list of hotel travel apps. Generating a preexisting boarding pass earlier is better.

We've long been confused by airlines that leave Blackberry users behind while rushing into the iPhone market. Do people with Blackberries not travel a lot? Are companies afraid that Blackberry users aren't as tied to their phones? Have they heard of the word "crackberry?" Air Canada definitely has, per their press release:

This Blackberry App significantly expands these options enabling travellers to check-in, board and obtain other details about Air Canada flights," said Ben Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. 'In addition, we have revamped our mobile portal http://mobile.aircanada.com to mirror the features of the Air Canada BlackBerry App. This is another step in introducing more cutting-edge technical innovations that will enhance and simplify our self-service and mobile options for customers who like the freedom of managing their own travel.'

The application is available for free both from the BlackBerry App store and from Air Canada's mobile site. It does kind of beg the question though: if the whole point of the application is to mirror what's available at http://mobile.aircanada.com, what's the point of having the application at all? Bragging rights?

[Photo: BlackBerry App World]

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