Last month my colleague Charlie Leocha reported that Continental, Delta, Northwest and Alaska started a pilot program in several airports throughout the United States, which allowed passengers to receive paperless boarding passes on their cell phones or PDAs.
On Thursday, the TSA and American Airlines started the pilot program at Los Angeles International Airport. The boarding passes will be scanned by TSA security officers at the checkpoint. This will eliminate the need for a paper boarding pass.
The paperless boarding pass will have a two-dimensional bar code as well as passenger and flight information that will identify the traveler. Mobile scanners carried by the TSO will “validate the authenticity of the paperless boarding pass sent to American Airlines passengers as well as the traditional boarding passes.”
American Airlines introduced the paperless boarding pass at O’Hare airport last week and debuted the technology at John Wayne-Orange County (SNA) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) this week.
Customers who wish to use the mobile boarding pass option must have an active e-mail address where the boarding pass can be sent as well as an Internet-enabled mobile device. During the introduction phase, “customers may list only one person in their reservation and must be traveling on American or American Eagle nonstop or same-plane direct to a domestic destination from Chicago, Los Angeles or Orange County. Domestic destinations include those within the United States as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.”
Customers wishing to check bags can still use this feature by scanning their paperless boarding pass at American Airlines self-service kiosks, ticket counters, or curbside check-in facilities.
If anyone has first-hand reports about the usage of paperless boarding passes, please comment.
