Believe it or not, your cell phone may be just the “ticket” to ending those long lines at the airport. According to Eric Zeman’s article, “Coming Soon: Mobile Phones As Boarding Passes”1 on InformationWeek.com, airlines will be using text messaging as the new form of communication to their passengers. Boarding passes will be sent via picture message; information regarding flight delays, rescheduling flights, baggage pickup and more can be done right from your cell phone. Flying will have less “baggage” on travelers as all these tasks will be more yielding than ever.
The feature of this unique plan that intrigues me the most is the ability to contact each passenger directly on their wireless devices about delays and cancellations. As a holiday traveler, I usually find myself in long lines for security check-in and almost always having to run around the airport to flag down an attendant only to find out if my flight’s delayed. I feel this new form of communication will do wonders for airline customers, as attendants will be more available and individuals such as myself won’t have to waste their time running a marathon around the facilities searching for an available attendant.
As for the picture message boarding pass, I think it will save time since many passengers crinkle their tickets to the point of being incapable of scanning or losing their ticket all together. I am quite guilty of destroying my boarding pass by twisting it and wrinkling it out of sheer boredom from standing in line. If this new process goes through, I won’t have to worry about destroying my ticket, but I will have to find a new way to pass the time (although hopefully there will be less time to pass).
With your traveling expertise, do you think this is a positive step forward for airlines or do you think nothing will change? How do you think this will affect you as a traveler?
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Marketing Assistant
1 “Coming Soon: Mobile Phones As Boarding Passes,” Eric Zeman, Information Week, 18 March 2008.
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