I Now Love Mobile Boarding Passes

Over the past couple of weeks, I've had a couple of opportunities to give mobile boarding passes a try - and I love them! The concept has been around for a couple of years now, but I'm a relatively new smartphone user and the airline I often fly the most (Southwest) does not yet have this technology available for passengers.

The concept is simple - your phone becomes your boarding pass, so you scan it at the security checkpoint and also at your boarding gate. I love this technology, if only because today's boarding passes are well...terrible.

Many boarding passes printed at the airport (especially at kiosks) are now longer on nice, heavy cardstock, and (relatively) flimsy paper now seems to be the norm. I find these passes to easily crumple up in a pocket*. Carrying around an online pass printed on 8.5"x11" paper isn't exactly the most convenient option, either. I am, however, already carrying around my phone.

That isn't to say that mobile boarding passes are totally perfect, either. The biggest issue I've found thus far is that mobile boarding isn't available in a great deal of cities. Only a few non-hub/focus city destinations in the US Airways network have the technology, for example. And, of course, you to make sure your phone is charged!

Here are the US airlines that I could find with mobile boarding pass technology. Each airline's name is linked to an webpage (maintained by the airline) with more information, such as what cities have them as an option:

• Alaska
• American
• Continental
• Delta
• United
• US Airways

Oftentimes you'll be informed if mobile check-in is available at an airport where you're traveling during online check-in, so check it out!

*The one exception I've found to this rule is Virgin America's kiosk boarding passes. They're printed on cardstock, and also smaller than most boarding passes, fitting perfectly in a pants pocket.