US Airways now offering mobile boarding passes

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If you're a frequent flyer on US Airways, they've announced some great news for you today that will help you out when traveling. US Airways passengers are now able to make use of their smartphones as mobile boarding passes in 14 U.S. airports with more planned as 2011 continues. As listed on the US Airways site:

  • Atlanta
  • Charlotte
  • Chicago
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Las Vegas
  • Houston (IAH)
  • Jacksonville
  • Minneapolis
  • Philadelphia
  • Phoenix
  • Pittsburgh
  • Boston
  • New York LaGuardia
  • Orange County/Santa Ana
  • Washington DC (DCA)

We've taken a look at some of the top Android airline apps in the past, as well we have a great list of Android travel tips accumulated from our many ventures in the air. If you're going to be traveling, be it on business or vacation we've got the guides to help make things easier. Full press release from US Airways can be found past the break and if you need more info -- check out the US Airways website link below.

Source: Business Wire; More Info: US Airways

US Airways Passengers Can Now Use Their Mobile Phone as Boarding Pass

NCR Mobile Boarding Pass Solution Improves Passenger Experience for US Airways Customers in 14 Airports Throughout U.S.

DULUTH, Ga.--US Airways is helping speed up the check-in process and improve convenience for its customers with mobile boarding pass technology from NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR).

Following check-in, customers receive an email containing a digitally signed and encrypted 2D bar code that is compatible with current imager-based airport scanners and boarding gate readers. Customers are able to scan the mobile boarding pass at the kiosk if necessary or bypass check-in lines and head straight to the security checkpoint where the electronic bar code is scanned and validated. The bar code can then be used at the gate for boarding.

US Airways first piloted NCR Mobile Pass at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C. starting in December 2010. It is now available in 14 U.S. airports, including LaGuardia International Airport in New York and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., and plans to further expand the offering in 2011 are underway.

According to a 2010 survey conducted for NCR by Buzzback Research, 48 percent of U.S. travelers who use their mobile phone for travel information and transactions also use their mobile phone to check-in for flights, and 45 percent access itineraries and reservations. In fact, according to Juniper Research, one in every seven bar-coded boarding passes worldwide will be delivered to passengers' mobile devices within two years.

“Consumers increasingly expect more control at their fingertips,” said Tyler Craig, vice president and general manager, NCR Travel. “By expanding its self-service offering beyond kiosk and web to include NCR Mobile Pass, US Airways is furthering its commitment to providing a seamless and convenient passenger experience.”

US Airways has distinguished itself by deploying the most advanced self-service solutions for travelers. The airline was recognized at the annual KioskCom Self-Service Expo as the 2010 Self-Service Excellence Award winner in the "Best Travel/Hospitality Deployment” category for improving the passenger experience by extending self-service check-in outside the terminal.

NCR is the leader in mobile check-in, issuing more than 1.2 million mobile boarding passes in July, 2011, as well as the industry leader in Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) airline kiosks.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR’s assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, healthcare, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR (www.ncr.com) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

Follow us on Twitter: @NCRCorporation, @careersatncr, and @ncrhealthcare

Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ncrcorp

Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/ncrgroup

Watch us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ncrcorporation

NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Bla1ze
Bla1ze
10 Comments
  • They've actually offered this for a while now. I use it routinely while travelling out of Philadelphia.
  • On USAir? Cool, I didn't know that. I use mobile passes out of PHL every week, but I almost always fly Delta (whose Android app is awesome, btw).
  • I actually read this as Mobile BEarding Passes and thought that Jerry would be pretty happy about it.
  • I read hard, but did not find a confirmation. Is this a paperless technology? An email with a 2D barcode displayed on a smartphone being scanned by airport scanners? I wish I knew about this before. I had just traveled through Charlotte, Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix by U.S. Airways two weeks ago.
  • Yes, basically that's what it is. The only thing I don't like about it is that a lot of times the scanners seem to have difficulty scanning you screen on the first second or third try so I would rather just print out my boarding pass from home and be done.
  • I tried to use the app Key Ring to store barcodes of all rewards/loyalty cards in my phone, but the LCD screen on my EVO seems completely unreadable for scanners.
  • "48 percent of U.S. travelers who use their mobile phone for travel information and transactions also use their mobile phone to check-in for flights" Wow, I didn't think the percentage would be so high. I fly monthly from Pittsburgh to Chicago and I always feel weird as I am always the only one who uses a mobile boarding pass. (The O'Hare security people really hate mobile passes as there is only 1 or 2 readers in each area. Sort of makes it worth it.) **EDIT*** Oops. Misread it. "one in every seven bar-coded boarding passes worldwide will be delivered to passengers' mobile devices within two years." 1 in 7 in two years seems more reasonable.
  • I can't stand US airways. Every single time I had to connect through Charlotte NC to anywhere on the east coast there was always some delay.
  • I don't fly very often, but I've used mobile boarding passes for a couple of trips on Delta. Loved it except for that one time, my phone decided to crash just as I got to the security to screening and it took 5 minutes for it to boot back up and retrieve the pass again.
  • I fly between the test markets for this on a regular basis and have been using the mobile boarding passes for several months now. It works for the scanner at the security checkpoint, as well as the scanner at the gate to get on the plane. I like it, but it isn't bullet proof. Basically, it sends an email with a link to a webpage that stores your boarding pass with QR barcode. So, your phone needs to be configured for that email account, and it has to have web access, it has to have a clean screen so the scanner can read it, and the scanner needs to be working. For now, I always print the passes as a back up in case the scanner isn't working, my phone dies, etc. I do look forward to when I don't need a backup plan, but hey, at least I can get on the plane and get where I need to go.