American Airlines launches mobile boarding passes

By Jordan Crook | June 8, 2009

American Airlines is now extending its mobile boarding pass option to a total of six airports nationwide, with the expectation to include more airports in the near future.

American Airlines customers departing from any one of these six airports can now choose to receive electronic boarding passes on their mobile devices or PDA’s. Customers can elect to use mobile boarding passes on any domestic flight from these airports, including connecting flights through any other participating airport.

“Our customers are mobile by definition,” said Stacey Frantz, spokeswoman at American Airlines, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. “We know they’re on the go, tech-savvy and are early adopters. We are looking for meaningful ways to make travel on American even more convenient for them.

“Plus, our ultimate goal is to ensure our customers have access to us when they want to through whatever channel is most convenient for them,” she said. “Today, our customers are aggressively adopting mobile applications – from Mobile Boarding to AA.com Mobile.”

The first airports to allow the mobile boarding pass were introduced in late 2008 and include Chicago’s O’Hare International (ORD), Los Angeles International (LAX), and John Wayne Orange County (SNA) airports.

In a partnership with the United States Transportation Security Administration, American Airlines launched these airports and recently added Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS), Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), and Minneapolis—St. Paul International (MSP) airports.

American Airlines claims that mobile phones and PDA’s are ubiquitous among its customers and that the decision to introduce mobile boarding passes leverages the devices to make traveling as simple as possible.

Customers who select the mobile option can go straight to security and then to the gate without any paper, saving time, energy, and in a small way, the environment.

“Mobile optimization is important for all travelers – but especially for business travelers, who, with increased mobility, see increased productivity and flexibility to do all kinds of work from just about anywhere,” Ms. Frantz said.

“The most obvious benefit to mobile boarding is speed and convenience – no stopping to print a boarding pass,” she said.

Requirements for mobile boarding passes include an active email address to which a boarding pass can be sent and a Web-enabled mobile device where a 2-D barcode can be received.

Customers can choose the mobile option by going to the traditional desktop version of http://www.AA.com or by visiting the mobile version.

The bar code can be scanned at TSA security check points and at any American Airlines gate.

By scanning the mobile screen at security and the gate, customers can completely bypass the paper aspect of travel. Proper identification is still required along with the mobile boarding pass.

Customers still have the original options of printing their boarding pass immediately and emailing it to themselves for printing, but with this new mobile arrival, customers can also email boarding passes to themselves for mobile use.