Frontier is already doing this. I flew with them a few months ago (my mistake) and I always print my boarding pass, but it wasn’t showing up anywhere when I checked in the day before. No big deal, I’ll print it at the self serve kiosk when I check my bag. Nope. The only way to get a boarding pass now is to pay $20 for a printed copy at the check in counter (and I wouldn’t put it past them to also tag on the $50 agent assistance fee while they’re at it) or download their proprietary app onto my phone.
But why would it matter? A QR code works regardless of the technology used to display it (be that paper, a screen, or a bunch of rubix cubes). What would the benefit of requiring digital boarding passes be? Unless the airline wants to force passengers to use their app so they can sell customer data and sell ads, there’s no real benefit to the actual boarding process.
the airline wants to force passengers to use their app so they can sell customer data and sell ads
That’s a bingo
In China the digital boarding pass QR code changes every 30 seconds preventing screenshots or photos of it from being used. But as they’re currently implemented in the US it’s no different than paper.
The bigger issue is how bad airline apps handle anything even slightly out of the ordinary like itineraries including codeshare segments or just randomly have server problems. I fly 50+ times a year and am able to actually use the digital boarding pass only ~95% of the time.
I always always screenshot my QR code and present that at the gate. If we had rolling codes locked away in a proprietary app, I guarantee boarding will grind to a halt as there always seems to be some sort of access issue whether it be from the servers, user error, connection issues, etc not to mention people often have their hands full of crap which makes clicking through a bunch of app menus difficult.
Ticktmaster has gone to that kind of rolling QR code; a printed screenshot of your ticket no longer works, and you have to use a clean installation of Chrome/Edge with no VPN to buy tickets -or- their app (which won’t work if it’s sandboxed or routed through a VPN). Hence the reason that I drive the hour+ to get to the ticket box office to buy tickets with cash now.
I recently traveled abroad. Flying back to the US I was one of about 10 passengers on my flight that was randomly selected for an extra search that I guess the TSA requires of flights coming into the USA. I couldn’t create my boarding pass in the airlines app ahead of time. I had to check in at the airport, and the airline employed explained that it was because of this random search. He had to print a physical boarding pass, and pointed out it had the code AAAA printed in big letters across the top. This lets everybody know I was one of the lucky random winners.
At the gate, prior to boarding, they called up the names of all of us who had been chosen. They had a list, so they knew who we were. They confirmed our ID again & the boarding pass, then swabbed us down along with our carry-ons and put the swabs in an explosives detector.
No idea why all that required a physical boarding pass, but it did. Until the TSA moves into the modern age they’re likely going to continue demanding paper boarding passes. And we all know how quickly government organizations upgrade the technology they use…
But with digital boarding passes, they can get access to your entire phone. Last time I flew, I tried scanning my digital boarding pass at TSA. The guy stops me and basically just takes my phone to do it himself. I was trying to watch what he was doing with it, but he was sitting behind a terminal. When he handed the phone back, the web browser was open, showing my phone carrier’s website, instead of my boarding pass like it was when I handed it to him. There’s a small chance it could have been accidental, but if not, I don’t know what he was trying to access or why. Very unsettling.
In the latter half of this year, TSA only asks for ID if flying domestically and no longer asks for boarding passes of any form in the airports I’ve flown through.
In the airports I fly through, TSA each has different procedures for different airports. And within each airport, their procedures randomly vary. The TSA agents at each airport are extremely grumpy and get angry at and act condescendingly towards you for not knowing today’s randomly selected procedures.
Don’t let your battery die
Always good advice when traveling. Redundant power packs are now as important for travel as a toothbrush.
Way, way more important. Your destination hotel will probably give you a free crappy one if you forget your toothbrush.
If you can’t afford a phone, you don’t get to fly.
Burner smartphone. Buy a cheap ass used phone on Craigslist. Only ever connect it to wifi. Load it with all the garbage apps companies demand you use. Use your real smart or dumb phone for your actual personal purposes.
TBF, if you can’t afford a phone, you probably can’t afford to fly either.
Not necessarily true. I hate the whole phone treadmill where a phone battery sucks after two years. And the repair costs as much as another phone.
So I held onto phones with like a few hours of battery life.
Easier to just print out the tickets and not have to micromanage my phone.
One shouldn’t be a gatekeeper for the other.
I don’t disagree. I was just pointing it out. Air travel is generally beyond the price range of people on limited incomes.
While true, it shouldn’t be required. But they also don’t let you buy tickets with cash today either.
You absolutely can. But you’ll have to buy them at the ticketing counter, and they will likely by 2-3x as expensive as they would have been otherwise.
Not in the US afaik. Need to put the cash on a card, then you can buy them.
I always prefer paper, this is silly
I haven’t used a paper boarding pass in at least a decade, and I can’t say I miss it either.
I prefer a paper pass.
Maybe I’m old school and I keep printed maps, tickets, all in a folder on my suitcase.
My phone has all that info too. But then it’s a single point of failure. And I’ve absolutely had the paper ticket save my ass because my phone could freeze or restart at critical moments.
Like I mentioned elsewhere, I also have my Apple Watch and my iPad to use in case my phone has a problem. But in all the years they’ve been digital passes, that’s never happened.
I had a connection through Geneva and while my international mobile phone coverage covered the UK and Germany, but Switzerland wasn’t included. The gate for the connecting flight was through an unsecured area, so I had to show a boarding pass again, except the United app which had the digital boarding pass couldn’t connect (because of no internet access) and I almost missed my connecting flight.
Luckily I had printed out the boarding passes, but they were buried in my carry on. So I had to unload the whole thing to find it, but I did. If I had only a digital boarding pass I would have been out-of-luck.
Yup. I work in IT, so I know digital stuff likes to shit the bed at the worst possible time. I always bring paper copies for situations like these.
When you buy a ticket and get a boarding pass, it typically comes in more than one form. When I fly, I get an email copy as well as the apps copy which I can then add to my Apple wallet. Accessing it at that point does not require an Internet connection.
What happens if somehow your phone gets broken? I always get a paper pass printed out just in case.
What happens if you lose the piece of paper?
You can get a new boarding pass at the gate or before check-in so it’s not like you’ll be stranded at the airport.
I’m just saying it’s always good to have a backup, and it doesn’t cost you a thing. You never know what’s gonna happen, so redundancy is a good thing.
In 30 years of owning various cell phones and smart phones, I’ve never once broken a single one of them.
It’s not something I worry about.
Even still, I also have my iPad that I carry when I travel. I could always use that as well. Or my Apple Watch, which is what I most commonly use.
I’m happy for you, but all it takes is one time. No reason not to have an extra backup.
I just described how I have two extra back ups, and yet, it has never happened to me any more than a decade I’ve been using these passes.
Worst case scenario? The gate agent prints me another one after they look me up in their computer. I know this, because I’ve seen people lose their paper boarding passes, and they had no back up at all. It took them five minutes to get another one.
I choose not to live in fear of a problem that doesn’t exist.
You can see it as living in fear, if that’s what helps you, I just see it as being as prepared as I can.
This is stupid but it won’t cost any airlines a significant amount of profit so I guess fuck you if you have one of hundreds of reasons to fly using a printed boarding pass…
Hey, you’re missing all the opportunities to be charged a service fee for looking at your ticket!
I’m pretty sure they’re not getting my face or fingerprints.
Fuck, I’m so glad i’ve quit flying… If i ever go overseas, i’m going to hire a berth on a cargo ship.
