The idea is instead of the traditional paper boarding passes, passengers will use their mobile phones or PDAs to board an airplane.
American Airlines tried out this new method for the first time on Thursday with passengers leaving on domestic flights from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Mobile boarding pass.
(Credit: cellphonedigest.net)Starting Monday, mobile boarding passes will also be offered as an option for passengers departing on domestic flights from Los Angeles International and John Wayne Orange County airports.
This is how it works: when buying the ticket online, passengers must provide an active e-mail address to which their boarding pass will be sent, in the form of a 2D bar code.
Upon arriving at the airport, the passenger can open the e-mail on their Internet-enabled mobile device to have the bar code scanned at the Transportation Security Administration's checkpoints and at the airline's gates.
Passengers can also use the same method for check-in luggage at American Airlines' self-service machines, ticket counters, or curbside check-in facilities.
During the introduction of this new feature, there are a few minor restrictions. Passengers can list only one person in their reservation and must be traveling on American or American Eagle nonstop or a trip that doesn't involve changing planes, to a domestic destination.
The destination, however, can be anywhere within the 50 United States, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
This is just the beginning, if the tryout proves successful with the TSA, American Airlines will extend this new mobile boarding method to other U.S. airports.
Personally, I hope this will happen with all the airlines. It makes a lot of sense, especially when most cell phones are able to connect to the Internet these days.
I recently wrote a column about using American Airlines' new in-flight Wi-Fi service to blog at 37,000 feet. I did a couple of speed tests and ran some Hulu video, but the one thing I never thought of doing is pulling up a porn site.
Now, Bloomberg is reporting that American's flight attendants are concerned about just that--that too many passengers will try to get their mile-high Web porn fixes.
It's unclear whether those worries stem from a specific incident or incidents, but it appears both passengers and flight attendants raised some red flags and the leaders of the American Association of Flight Attendants brought it up with American Airlines' management. They urged the company "to filter its in-flight Internet service to block access to pornography and other Web sites the workers said were inappropriate."
No mile-high Web porn fix for me.
(Credit: John Falcone/CNET Networks)Personally, I get a little embarrassed when even a semi-nude scene flashes on the screen of my iPod or portable DVD player while I'm watching a movie on a plane (we're talking R-rated here). If there are any younger fliers around I'll do my best to shield the screen or jump ahead a chapter. But people do some crazy stuff on planes, so it wouldn't totally surprise me to hear about a passenger casually perusing some porn sites and thinking nothing of it. There are people out there who think, "I bought this seat, I can act or smell as badly as I want in it."
Moral majority aside, I can see where the flight attendants are coming from. They're the ones who have to deal with passengers' complaints and will be forced to regulate what people are looking at. Better to nip it in the bud and block sites like they do at a lot of workplaces. But the problem is there's some subjectivity when it comes to what's offensive or not. Just ask Janet Jackson.
Anybody have any solutions? Or good stories about people watching sketchy material on a plane you were on? Let us know in the Talkback section.
A Boeing 767-200
(Credit: American Airlines)We asked and, with any luck, we shall receive. A few weeks back we were bemoaning the lack of Wi-Fi aboard U.S. airlines after finding that Qantas had plans for on-board wireless Internet access. But American Airlines appears to be on the same flight path, teaming with AirCell to test broadband services next year on the carrier's Boeing 767-200 planes. Now if the airline would just incorporate the kind of gadget-laden chaise lounges that United is planning, we'd be in hog heaven. In Economy Class, thank you very much. Speaking of flying, what are those pigs doing in mid-air?
- prev
- 1
- next
