You receive your airplane boarding pass on your cell phone or PDA, display the bar code on your device, and have it scanned as you enter the plane.
This vision of paperless, personal-device boarding took a step closer to reality on Tuesday when the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Continental Airlines announced the launch of a pilot program which they said will improve security.
This is the first test by a U.S. carrier of paperless boarding passes. Carriers in other countries, such as Spain, Germany, Canada, and Japan, have tested similar systems for as many as three years.
Security and Economics
In October, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) adopted a global standard for bar codes used as boarding passes. American airlines have also adopted the standard, but TSA approval is still required. The Continental pilot is, according to the TSA, “consistent with the global standard” of IATA.
Security is a motive, but so are economics. IATA officials have said that they expect the worldwide industry will save about half a billion dollars annually from such a system.
The barcode that is displayed on the cell phone or mobile device is not the familiar box of vertical lines that accompanies virtually every product sold at retail, from cereal to computers. Instead, it uses a pattern of squares to offer a greater level of information.
Passengers with compatible devices receive a text message bearing the barcode or instructions on how to download it. Because the pass is encrypted, TSA officials have said it is more secure than ordinary paper boarding passes in that it increases the ability to detect fraud.
Transactional Mobile Devices
This pilot program is only the latest incarnation of a wave of new, transactional uses for mobile devices. Sean Ryan, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, noted that such devices are being used…