Great Travel Option - Electronic Boarding Passes

No, I’m not talking about the e-ticket where you just present your ID to obtain a boarding pass at the check-in desk. I mean a full-fledged electronic pass. The first time Canadian airline Westjet offered me an electronic pass - as I was checking in on my Treo from Starbucks no less - I couldn’t say yes.

For those of you who haven’t seen this new innovation, the electronic boarding pass is just an email sent to your handheld device that you can show - by holding up your phone with the email open - to security and the boarding staff to get on the plane. That’s it. No paper. Not a shred. You book from home on-line. You “check in” and select your seat online, maybe even from your phone, and then your email is your boarding pass. Entire forests could be saved by this small innovation.

When I first got this option over a year ago it didn’t feel right. I was sure that I would arrive at security and be turned down. The way I usually travel - as late as I can - being turned away at security if the line up was long might have meant a missed flight. So I opted for the traditional paper pass that I would have to line up at the airport to retrieve. More recently though, I took the plunge, accepted the electronic pass and crossed my fingers for an uneventful flight.

It couldn’t have been better. Well in one way, but more on that later. I arrived at the airport about 15 minutes before boarding with my carry-on luggage. I walked straight to the security line. When my turn came I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed it to the guard. “Thank you sir, please go in that line over there.” That’s it. I was in. Same thing happened when boarding the plane. Not a problem. No fumbling in my pocket for just the right crumpled boarding pass stuffed between my wallet and my phone. No problem at all.

Well, there is the one thing that could improve it. Apple, please bring the iPhone to Canada. As I have written before, I like to watch videos on my iPod for professional development. That day I waited at the gate watching a brilliant TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson on education. So I was fumbling with my iPod and my phone as I walked through the gate. iPhone. One device. No problem.

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