Future of Flight: Paperless Boarding Passes

Sept. 1, 2009— -- I have always been one to embrace technology. This is especially true when dealing with the airlines. I clearly remember the days -- not too long ago -- when I used to call all the major airlines to compare flight times and prices and then do it all over a few days later when the fares changed.

The Internet changed that. Then there was the self-serve check-in kiosk. If you were tech savvy, suddenly you could avoid big lines and get your boarding pass in a snap.

The airlines then too things a step further, allowing you to print out your boarding pass at home. Now we really didn't have to interact with other humans and the airlines got to save a few bucks along the way.

Now comes the latest development: the paperless boarding pass, downloaded to your BlackBerry, iPhone or Web-enabled cell phone.

Such boarding passes have been around for more than a year but have now spread to many major airports, with plans to expand further in the fall.

So I decided to try it out on a flight from Newark, N.J., to Seattle the other week on Continental Airlines.

Newark is one of 27 airports in the country to currently allow paperless check-in.

Continental, one of five airlines trying out the paperless system, sent me an e-mail about 24 hours before my flight telling me that I was now eligible to check in. Sitting at a bar with some friends, I logged on via my BlackBerry and checked in for my flight. I was even able to change seats … or would have been if there were other seats available.

A few minutes later, I got an e-mail from Continental saying: "Please use the link below to retrieve your mobile boarding pass, which must be displayed on your mobile phone or PDA at the security checkpoint and again at the gate to board your flight."