On the last two trips I have taken, I have used the paperless boarding pass option from American Airlines. The program is still in pilot stage, which is important to note, because it is definitely less than perfect.

How it works

When you check in online, and if your airline of choice is part of the pilot program, at your departure airport, then you will be offered a paperless boarding pass as one of your options. In the case of American Airlines, when you select the paperless boarding pass, you get an email with a link. You should have the email go to one of your email accounts that you receive mail on your mobile device (Blackberry, iPhone, Android). From your mobile device, follow the link, and it should open in your mobile phones web browser. The web page that loads should have a barcode, and  your particular details. When you get to security, you need to have the browser open with the barcode showing clearly on the screen, and hold your phone close to the barcode scanner. It may take a second or 2 to be scanned. As long as everything worked, then you’ll be waved through by security to continue on to the screening area. Once you get to the gate, you do pretty much the same thing.

Does it work?

In short yes. But it’s important to remember that this is still a pilot project and things can and definitely do go wrong. I personally have not had any problems using the paperless boarding passes. I’ve used the system with a Blackberry Bold 9700 and the new Blackberry Torch 9800. But I was travelling with a colleague who was using the Blackberry Bold 9700 and he had trouble from the outset. First he had trouble at security. The scanner would not scan the barcode. After much fussing with his phone, and standing around at security waiting for someone from the TSA who knew a little about the pilot to show up, they eventually got him checked in with Security. When we got to the gate another unexpected problem arose. He had closed his browser window after clearing security. At the gate he remembered that he needed the boarding pass again. When he tried to load it, he got a Server error from American Airline’s mobile site. By contrast I had left my boarding pass in a browser window so I had it available when I was boarding at the gate. As soon as I had been scanned in at the gate I decided to try reload my boarding pass from American Airlines and got the exact same error my colleague had gotten. How he boarded was to go to a gate agent and explain his problem. After producing his ID they printed him a regular boarding card, and he was able to board and continue on with his flight. What was good to see is that both the TSA and American Airlines had plans to assist him and make sure he continued on with his travels as planned.

To give yourself the best possible chance of having this work well for you, you need to be very familiar and comfortable with your mobile phone. You should also plan ahead a little bit. Load the boarding card well ahead of arriving at the security line, and once it’s loaded, leave it open in one of your browsers windows / tabs incase something goes wrong with the mobile site that serves up the boarding pass over the web to your phone. If you don’t want to have the hassle of explaining yourself to the TSA and gate staff of your airline, then you may want to consider printing a paper boarding pass and keep that with you as a backup. (Yes that kind of defeats the purpose, but the system isn’t perfect – so it may well be worth having that backup)

Which airlines and airports are part of the pilot?

You should check both the website for your airline of choice and the TSA for updated lists. As of August 2010, 71 airports in the US are part of the program, and a number of airlines. Note that not all airline / airport combinations are the same. For example, if you’re flying American, you can use the paperless boarding pass at airports such as LAX (Los Angeles), ORD (Chicago), PDX (Portland), JFK (New York) but not in MIA (Miami).

Personally I love the system, and will continue to use it as often as I can, based on whether the airline and airport combinations that are part of my trips allow for it. I probably will however continue to print a paper backup of my boarding pass just in case!

Have you used the paperless boarding pass? How did it work out for you?