Southwest Rapid Rewards - Electronic Boarding Pass: When is it coming to WN?

Howdy,

ExUA1K turned A-lister (soon to be preferred) :D. Passport for iOS was just announced, and it has some awesome new features, such as areas to keep your e-boarding passes and loyalty programs stored on your smartphone. Any updates to departure time/gates/etc. are then pushed to the phone. It looks both slick and usefull as hell. United (bleh) was featured in the Apple keynote address announcement of Passport this week. Such a shame to see WN on the sidelines for this. When might we see that change? I've searched all over for an answer, but couldn't find one. THANKS!

I wouldn't hold my breath - WN tends to be slow to react to that sort of thing.

To my knowledge, WN has never publicly commented on a timetable for this.

Besides, they've got enough on their plate just fixing all the problems and lack of functionality they have with their web-based reservations system.

SWA is actually pretty hip to mobile and stuff like social media. The execution may be horrendously flawed, such as zero security in their mobile app, but they do tackle it. True, we won't hear about in advance, but don't be shocked to see it show up even as the ongoing horrific issues with the main web site continue unmitigated.

I seriously doubt WN will implement it anytime soon. In fact, I'd be shocked if they did.

don't be shocked to see it show up even as the ongoing horrific issues with the main web site continue unmitigated.

I'd be shocked if they did.

Aren't you the rebellious sort! :D

I've never seen these things in action, so I don't know much about them. If they require new hardware at the airports, then I agree it is unlikely.

Aren't you the rebellious sort! :D

I've never seen these things in action, so I don't know much about them. If they require new hardware at the airports, then I agree it is unlikely.

The part I hate is when the TSA squiggles on it with the sharpie marker.




(It's a joke. Seems I have to say that.)

I've never seen these things in action, so I don't know much about them. If they require new hardware at the airports, then I agree it is unlikely.

As far as equipment WN needs, I wouldn't think so. They already scanners at each gate and I find it hard to believe that from a hardware perspective they couldn't scan bar codes on smart phones. A software update, sure, but not hardware. But the software update itself may be a pain in the neck for them.

Been thinking about starting a new thread about this but will see what comments I get here. With WN hiring an IT consultant six months ago or so and, of course, the AirTran acquisition, I'm wondering if they've deprioritized fixing annoying bugs on their website in favor of pouring all their resources into building a completely new reservations system/website that would address all the bugs, inadequacies, and lack of features in the current system.

This hypothetical system could be rolled during the next year or so and at the same time allow for interlining, paperless boarding, etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ftnoob
don't be shocked to see it show up even as the ongoing horrific issues with the main web site continue unmitigated.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ursine1
I'd be shocked if they did.

Aren't you the rebellious sort! :D


While I would be shocked if WN implemented electronic boarding passes anytime soon, I would not be shocked when, if they did, the website issues continued unmitigated. ;)

On the legacy airlines I fly (mostly AA and AS), they don't collect the boarding passes (at least on domestic departures), they just scan them and hand them back to you. So very easy to do with an electronic pass on your phone or whatever.

But Southwest insists on keeping the paper boarding passes. You can at most keep a little tab on cardboard or kosk passes, and you have to have printed a duplicate to keep your printed online boarding pass.

How in the world is Southwest supposed to that with electronic passes? Confiscate your phone??? :eek:

The equaivalent with electronic passes is that they would have to take a picture of the phone showing the pass! But they don't have technology to do that. (And no one else does either, AFAIK, because no other airline that I know of is as obsessed with hanging on to the actual boarding pass after it's been scanned.)

I"m thus not sure how likely it is that Southwest will accept electronic boarding passes until/unless they change their hoarding mentality on paper boarding passes. Only once scanning (and only scanning, not keeping) is good enough for them will they be ready for electronic boarding passes (which cannot be kept, only scanned).

Howdy,

ExUA1K turned A-lister (soon to be preferred) :D. Passport for iOS was just announced, and it has some awesome new features, such as areas to keep your e-boarding passes and loyalty programs stored on your smartphone. Any updates to departure time/gates/etc. are then pushed to the phone. It looks both slick and usefull as hell. United (bleh) was featured in the Apple keynote address announcement of Passport this week. Such a shame to see WN on the sidelines for this. When might we see that change? I've searched all over for an answer, but couldn't find one. THANKS!

Is passport going to be an Iphone app? Sounds pretty cool if it will work with all airlines. A good app for keeping loyalty cards stores on right now is cardstar and nice thing is it's a free app:)

E-boarding passes are great. A lot less wasted paper and one less thing to keep track of when travelling. I am surprised WN doesn't off e-boarding passes yet seeing they were the first airline to have an iphone app. They are the only airline that I know of that keeps a paper boardin gpass, all the other airlines I have dealt with just scan the paper BP and give it back to you. If there is some reason they retain the paper boarding passes, then I wouldn't look for an iphone BP anytime soon.

Does anyone know why they keep the boarding passes? I've never understood that. I always assumed it was to double check the count or something, but that seems silly with electronic manifests. And I was surprised the first time I boarded A1 when they asked me to keep my pass, and hand it to the FA when I boarded (signifying the first non-preboard?).

Does anyone know why they keep the boarding passes? I've never understood that. I always assumed it was to double check the count or something, but that seems silly with electronic manifests. And I was surprised the first time I boarded A1 when they asked me to keep my pass, and hand it to the FA when I boarded (signifying the first non-preboard?).

I've always wondered why also. And it has caused problems a couple times. Once there was a maintenance issue after boarding and they ended up not being able to use the plane and we had to wait almost four hours for the last plane of the night to land and reboard and there were people that didn't even remember their boarding pass numbers they had before (or they did and were trying to line jump). Another time I was on a though flight and they had us switch planes at MDW and again it would have made it easier on everyone if they had their boarding passes (I always print out a duplicate copy of my BP mainly in case the RR credits didn't post, but a lot of PAX dont)

Is passport going to be an Iphone app? Sounds pretty cool if it will work with all airlines. A good app for keeping loyalty cards stores on right now is cardstar and nice thing is it's a free app:)

Actually, Passport will be baked in to iOS6, so it will come standard in the iOS6 software. AFAIK, it will handle loyalty points, etc. and is designed to replace things like BPs and key fobs for various programs. Pretty cool!
Come on WN...wass da holdup???

But Southwest insists on keeping the paper boarding passes.

Not really. I asked to keep the stub recently and the Ops Agent told me to just keep the whole thing.

I think they keep them in case there is a headcount discrepancy, such as 138 people trying to fit into 137 seats. But they go into the trash immediately upon departure.

Maybe it's a matter of habit dating to the reusable plastic cards.

Not really. I asked to keep the stub recently and the Ops Agent told me to just keep the whole thing.

I think they keep them in case there is a headcount discrepancy, such as 138 people trying to fit into 137 seats. But they go into the trash immediately upon departure.

Maybe it's a matter of habit dating to the reusable plastic cards.
Or could it be efficiency? I just realized that the typical order of events is:

1. They take the board pass from you.

2. You keep walking.

3. Only if you stop and look back do you see that only then do they get confirmation ("boarding ok" or whatever). In other words, if they take it, you can be on your way down the ramp before you're confirmed (but not so far that it's hard to catch you in case you're not confirmed).

But to give the boarding pass back to everyone, they'd have to wait until they confirm that it scanned fine before you could walk away a single step. That's how it is on, for example, AA.

So I'm wondering if Southwest is doing this because they found that it shaves 1.3 minutes (or whatever) off of loading the plane. To Southwest with point-to-point flights and tight turns, that matters. To legacies with hub-to-spoke flights with not as tight turns, it matters less.

But that bring another point, going back to the original question: Since they have to wait to confirm the boarding pass before they can hand back the phone, might elecronic boarding be slower than paper pass boarding? So might they be avoiding electronic boarding not (just) because they haven't figured out how to do the tehcnology, but also because they haven't figured out how to do it without slowing down boarding?

Actually, I think it really is just a holdover from the plastic card days. Pre 9/11 there were plastic cards of course then afterwards they had to implement a system (and fast, if I remember correctly) to confirm that the person who was boarding was the person whose name was on the ticket. If I remember correctly this started off as what was basically a security document that was handed out with plastic cards. When you went to board you had to show identification to the GA along with the security document which they kept just as they had been doing with the cards.

Over time the identification at boarding procedure was dropped and WN changed its system both in regards to technology (internet and OLCI) and trying to come up with a better system as the old plastic cards suddenly weren't good enough due to 9/11 changes. Add on to all that the fact that no assigned seating = no reason to keep your BP at least until you find your seat meant that they never really had a reason to change the system. Of course, just ask for it back if you need it for your records as they just toss them anyway. Sort of like the soda can issue: by default they probably will just give you a cup of soda but simply ask and they'll give you the can.

It's interesting. On Friday morning, I witnessed the agent at SMF scan the BP, then pop them into the trashcan adjacent to the podium. I was thinking to myself, what would happen if the count was off or some other discrepency? Seemed a bit out of the ordinary.

The first general boarder after the pre-boards almost always gets their BP back to hand to the FA on the plane. The FA then deposits it into the trash on the plane. So, if they retain BPs to verify passenger counts, the GA would always be one off due to this.

Pre 9/11 there were plastic cards of course then afterwards they had to implement a system (and fast, if I remember correctly) to confirm that the person who was boarding was the person whose name was on the ticket.

Plastic boarding cards went away in mid to late 2002. There might even be some floating around at airports now. I was given one in ~2006 in PHX when their computers were down. They boarded people who printed OLCI BPs first, then us plastic folks. It was a total mess that day....

Anyone remember the plastic boarding cards shaped like California?

Everyone has missed the real reason.

If the OA wants to support a line breaker, they put the BP to the side and scan it at the time it would have been scanned had the person not broken line. Without the "lay it to the side" flexibility, the out of order alarm would be going off all of the time.

They can not hold a phone and wait until later.




Yes, folks, I am trying to be funny. Sort of. I've seen the "lay it aside" maneuver more than once.

Back to the subject of electronic boarding passes……While I don’t regularly use them I did see one couple try to use them at MDW for another airline……..the scanner at the security checkpoint wouldn’t accept their smart phone image so they were told to go back to ticketing to get a paper boarding pass (real bummer)….

Until they are a little more reliable I think I’ll pass……but I do wish WN would start offering the option.....beats going down to the hotel 'business center' the night before a 5:00AM flight to print one.....

I believe that they are quite reliable. MDW simply does not have the scanners at their TSA checkpoints that accept mobile boarding passes.

I believe that they are quite reliable. MDW simply does not have the scanners at their TSA checkpoints that accept mobile boarding passes.

MDW does. I flew out of MDW on memorial day and had no problems with my DL iphone boarding pass. There are a few airports that still dont take them. Last time I flew out of SFO, I had to have a regular BP.

I would love this feature. Using them on Delta flights is just so convenient.

I would love this feature. Using them on Delta flights is just so convenient.

Agreed. Airport technology is amazingly behind the times. Most legacy carriers have res systems are based on technology started in the 70s.

There are so many ways WN could be a bit more innovative here, including luggage handling and baggage check-in. Would be awesome to see the ability to check bags online. The HUGE lines at most WN counters are from customers needing to check bags. One setback to on-line bag check would be the inablilty to print the bag tags, but what about permanent bag tags featuring QR codes? Every smartphone has the ability to scan a QR code, so when checking in, a user could also scan their own bag, associating it with that customer/flight/reservation. Customers could use the same tag again and again, and if I'm not mistaken, most of the tags are scanned as they are loaded on a plane. It's doubtful baggage handlers check the airport code on the bag, given the amount of bags.
There are a lot of ways this airline could do things more efficiently. It would be great to see them incorporate a few of them to help cut their increasing costs.

Agreed. Airport technology is amazingly behind the times. Most legacy carriers have res systems are based on technology started in the 70s.

There are so many ways WN could be a bit more innovative here, including luggage handling and baggage check-in. Would be awesome to see the ability to check bags online. The HUGE lines at most WN counters are from customers needing to check bags. One setback to on-line bag check would be the inablilty to print the bag tags, but what about permanent bag tags featuring QR codes? Every smartphone has the ability to scan a QR code, so when checking in, a user could also scan their own bag, associating it with that customer/flight/reservation. Customers could use the same tag again and again, and if I'm not mistaken, most of the tags are scanned as they are loaded on a plane. It's doubtful baggage handlers check the airport code on the bag, given the amount of bags.
There are a lot of ways this airline could do things more efficiently. It would be great to see them incorporate a few of them to help cut their increasing costs.


I'm pretty sure an employee has to see your photo ID before taking a checked bag. It is still possible to just check bags online with OLCI. The QR code is a smart idea but the agent would still have to scan it to verify the name on the ID matched and last time I had a bag to pick up at ATL there was someone there that would ask for your claim ticket and make sure it matched so people wouldn't steal bags (not sure if they still do it or not, MDW and MSY also used to do it but haven't that last couple times I have checked a bag).

Deltas app will ask if you are checking bags and if you are you just go to the checkin line and they scan your BP and give your claim ticket.

One other really nice thing is if you can track your luggage with your cell phone app. I lvoe being able to scan my claim ticket with my phone and seeing the bag was loaded and find out if it's on the claim belt yet after landing.

Does anyone know why they keep the boarding passes? I've never understood that. I always assumed it was to double check the count or something, but that seems silly with electronic manifests. And I was surprised the first time I boarded A1 when they asked me to keep my pass, and hand it to the FA when I boarded (signifying the first non-preboard?).

I've asked about this, I was told due to union work rules.