Tag: boarding passes

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Add Cathay Pacific to the Mobile Boarding Pass Club

February 9, 2012 at 9:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

Mobile boarding passes are finally pretty much becoming the norm here in the US, but we do realize that there are still plenty of carriers where it isn’t yet an option. Step by step, other airlines are coming over to the tech-friendly side, and this week it’s Cathay Pacific upgrading their offerings with mobile boarding passes.

Cathay Pacific is starting off small, so you won’t be able to utilize any mobile boarding passes leaving from the United States just yet. The paper-free process is now available in Auckland, NZ—as well in Hong Kong. Passengers who do their check-ins online will have the chance to receive their boarding information right on their mobile devices, and then it just takes a swipe and scan to hop aboard both select Dragonair and Cathay Pacific flights.

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What's the Deal with American Airlines' New Boarding Process?

June 27, 2011 at 8:58 AM | by | Comments (3)

Every once in a while an airline decides to shake up the boarding process. It's usually to expedite the whole mess involved with getting on the airplane, and sometimes it's to provides a head start to certain groups of frequent flyers. The latest carrier to revamp their system is American Airlines and initial reviews are kind of mixed.

The old boarding process had about ten different groups, but the new process compacts everything into six different zones. Up first are those sitting in the front of the plane, along with uniformed military men and women and some frequent flyers. Next are the rest of the frequent flyers, and then Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, and Group 4. The first boarding group is for those who hold status in the oneworld airline alliance in addition to those that have purchased PriorityAAccess before heading to the departure gate—which is not a good use of travel cash if you ask us.

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You Can Finally Use a Mobile Boarding Pass on United's International Flights

March 16, 2011 at 2:54 PM | by | Comments (0)

We've said it once and we'll say it again: Mobile Boarding Passes are God's gift to modern air travel. Thankfully, many airlines agree with us and have continued to advance their programs, like United, who today announced that their mobile boarding passes now work for select international flights, as well as domestic.

To quickly give some background, a mobile boarding pass is a page or code downloaded or texted to your smartphone. You scan it to get through security, and it's again scanned at the gate (see a picture of the scanning here) to allow you to board your flight. No printing and no fumbling around with loose sheets of paper necessary. A modern miracle. It was first embraced with European carriers like SAS and Lufthansa, the latter of whom even have installed self-scan turnstiles at some boarding gates at German airports.

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Ryanair Doesn't Care That You Paid $40 for Your Boarding Pass; It'll Have Ads Anyway

March 8, 2011 at 12:51 PM | by | Comments (3)

Have you ever bought and paid for a flight like normal, then arrived to the airport and boarded the flight like normal, and then pulled down your tray table or opened the seatback safety card to discover they were covered in ads? It's like...what the hell. We're pitched to by billboards, magazine ads, even coffee sleeves nearly every hour of every day, and the one time we can usually count on some quiet chill time—a long flight, for example—the ads are still there and now more persistent than ever.

Ryanair, one of the original pioneers for selling space wherever possible, is going a step further and putting the ads right in the palm of your hand, before you even get onboard their planes or have a seat at the gate. They're splashing the boarding passes with ads, and not trying to be shy at all about it.

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American Airlines and Air Canada Plan to Test Do-It-Yourself Bag Tags in Boston

November 11, 2010 at 8:40 AM | by | Comments (0)

If those friendly folks with the TSA give their blessing, the way you check your luggage might be getting a makeover. No longer will you have to hand over your overstuffed suitcase to an airline employee for its baggage tag, as you’ll be the one slapping that destination sticker onto the handle. That means if you’re bag ends up in Toledo rather than Tahiti you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

American Airlines and Air Canada want to bring self bag tags to the masses, or at least part of them, by testing the service in Boston later this year. Delta wants to get in on the fun as well, so expect them to be doing something similar before too long at another airport.

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American Airlines and Delta Giving Away a Million Miles to Try Their iPhone Apps

September 21, 2010 at 8:30 AM | by | Comments (0)

American Airlines must really want everyone to play sudoku, as they’re offering up a pretty good incentive to try out their latest iPhone app. The thing has been kicking around for a few months now, but it’s definitely worth a download now more than ever. That’s because the airline is offering up a chance to score 1,000,000 frequent flyer miles for one lucky user.

If you’re not the big winner of the “Mobile Million” contest, there are still a few other prizes worth jumping up and down about. Thirty other downloaders will be grabbing $400 Apple gift cards, which can be used to upgrade to the latest iPod or fill out an iTunes library. All you have to do is download and install the app between now and October 15.

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Mobile Boarding Passes and More from Delta's First iPhone App

September 2, 2010 at 11:24 AM | by | Comment (1)

As if you already don't have enough airline apps on your iPhone especially since American and British Airways have just put theirs out there, the world's largest airline is joining the fray with an app of their own. That's it; it's Delta and the app, simple named "Fly Delta," incorporates all the things we love about travel apps, like easy flight check-in, mobile boarding passes and flight tracking.

Delta's new app—available for free now over at iTunes—may not have the cute Sudoku add-on game that American's app does, but it will allow you to check airport and weather information as well as mark your parking location with a Google Maps feature.

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Continental Begins to Fulfill Our Self-Boarding Fantasies

July 28, 2010 at 1:05 PM | by | Comments (0)


A Continental turnstile ad in the NYC subway

While American Airlines looks toward a more convenient, tech-friendly future with the introduction of their iPhone app and mobile boarding passes, another US airline is going a step further to trial self-boarding.

USAToday just announced that Continental has begun using turnstiles at selected boarding gates at Houston International Airport. What this mean is that, instead of waiting in a long line for one or two gate agents to scan your boarding pass and wave you into the jetbridge to board the plane, you can join one of a few lines that lead to a turnstile where you scan your boarding pass on your own and process to the plane.

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American Airlines Jumps on the iPhone App Bandwagon

July 27, 2010 at 10:31 AM | by | Comments (2)

Fresh from the major update of the British Airways iPhone app comes a new one from American Airlines.

Released just yesterday on iTunes, the free American app does quite a bit more than just monitor your flights and allow you to purchase more from AA; it's got Sudoku! No really, it does. But aside from Sudoku, the new app allows you to check in to your flight, monitor your place on the standby list, track your frequent flyer miles, view maps of the airport terminal and use a mobile boarding pass (on select flights). Non-flight-related features include taking and storing a picture of your car's parking spot and recording other airport parking information.

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Mobile Boarding Passes Come to British Airways' iPhone App

July 19, 2010 at 5:15 PM | by | Comment (1)

Can you believe that British Airways has had an iPhone app for two years? That puts them with the first of the airlines to have one, even if it was only for iPhones and didn't have many features; you could only check arrival and departure times and look at timetables.

But a few days ago, British Airways celebrated their two-year anniversary of being in the App store by releasing a seriously upgraded version, in addition to launching apps for Android and Blackberry. The app now includes the ability to check your BA Executive Club account, manage bookings, change flights, access airport and flight information, check out the British Airways Twitter and check in to your flight on the go. The most notable new feature however, is definitely mobile boarding passes.

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Mobile Boarding Passes Are God's Gift to Modern Air Travel

Where: Germany
May 24, 2010 at 3:25 PM | by | Comment (1)

We had a huge problem. Last week, when we hopped all around Germany on Lufthansa flights leading up to the big A380 First Flight, we needed to check into several flights and had no easy access to a printer, nor did we want to wait in a line at the airport to deal with an agent. Therefore we turned to the newest technology—mobile boarding passes—and quickly fell in love with them.

Mobile boarding passes are had simply by checking in online via your smartphone. The airline then emails or texts you a code which will be scanned at the airport, in lieu of a paper printout. They are only offered on a few airlines and only so many of their flights. In the US, airlines like United, Continental and American are seeking to expand the program to over 30 airports, banishing long ticket line waits and last-minute Kinko's runs.

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Soon, You'll Be Able to Check In via iPad on These Airlines

March 18, 2010 at 12:37 PM | by | Comments (0)

This might become the year for electronic boarding passes. Sure, there have been plenty of airlines offering airplane access via smartphone for some time, but it’s no longer just for elite flyers leaving from some of the nation’s busiest airports. Especially now that United Airlines is the latest to ditch the paper and head to the promised land.

Last week United starting using mobile boarding passes at Chicago's O’Hare International Airport, and they've quickly expanded their offerings to other major markets including Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco—among a few other locations. As long as everything works out well, they plan to be in about 30 different cities by this summer, so maybe you can flash that new iPad to board the plane as you begin your summer vacation.

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