Delta testing cell phone-based airline check-in

If you're flying Delta Air Lines out of New York's LaGuardia Airport, you can now flash your cell phone to get onboard. On Tuesday, the airline rolled out a partnership with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to test out a "paperless check-in"--passengers download a boarding pass onto their cell phones and have it scanned by the TSA at the airport's security checkpoint as well as when they board the plane.

Fellow domestic carrier Continental is already testing a similar program.

The speedier check-in is limited to cell phone customers who can access the mobile Web on their phones, a release explained. And, at least for the time being, Delta's test only applies to domestic travelers flying out of LaGuardia.

"Passengers can now quickly check in for their flight while en route to the airport in a taxi or walking from the parking lot to the terminal," Steve Gorman, executive vice president of operations at Delta, said in the release. "The check-in process now can take place from anywhere, any time within 24 hours of flight departure."

They'll have to present ID, of course. Earlier this month, the TSA ruled that if you refuse to show ID, you can't get on the plane.

Small, "techie" enhancements have been appearing on the airline-news radar recently, as U.S. carriers look for inexpensive ways to make up for cutbacks elsewhere in response to high fuel prices--charging for checked baggage, eliminating perks. United Airlines is rolling out iPod hookups through a partnership with Apple that Delta and Continental will be joining, JetBlue's BetaBlue plane has expanded its in-flight e-mail, and Virgin America used gadget fetishes to pull itself into a "premium" niche.

And if some airlines have their way--heaven forbid--you might be able to keep using that cell phone right up into the air.

[chordok]

This is also being tested at Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta...Delta's home and primary hub.

[Pishkado]

British airline BMI has had this for some time now. Because cell phone screens vary, they send the bar code in three sizes. The display cycles through them on the (usually correct) assumption that the reader will be able to figure out at least one.

As so often happens, we Americans don't think something exists until we have it, at which point we think we invented it. Kinda like Windows users thinking a feature doesn't exist until Windows gets it, even if Linux and Mac OS have had it for years! :)

[docnilay]

I checked in on a Continental flight out of Newark airport last month. The "electronic" boarding pass I presented on my Apple iPhone at first confused the pre-screeners, who typically check ID and write an "x" on the boarding pass. My benefit- the lady pre-screened me and escorted me to the front of the security line to let the next TSA person know that I had been properly screened... it was great!