Originally Posted by
SchmutzigMSP
Perhaps, but I think of it like this: when I'm leaving home/the office, sure, I have no problem finding a printer and doing OLCI and being done with it. But when I'm on the road, it's always been a concern to think about which hotel has free printers or can I send the fax to, and will it arrive on time (if I can't get physical access to the fax machine and must rely on the hotel staff).
When staying at a hotel on the road, I've always just used the fax BP option, rather than try to deal with their comp workstation or printer service, as they're all different with varying levels of security built in. Never waited more than 10 min. to receive the fax BP from NWA - usually it's at the front desk before I can even get down there from my room, or I have it sent ahead before I arrive to the property.
Now, getting a sometimes clueless check-in person to locate the BP... that's often another story.
Same thing if I'm staying with friends/family: another thing to be concerned about and I don't like to trouble them to use their printer.
This one I can understand - the PDA-phone BP will come in handy, if you can't get to the airport early enough to use the kiosk (or the lines suck). However, the risk of waiting in line at the TSA queue, only to have the scanner burb on your PDA BP, and having to run to the nearest kiosk anyway (and rejoin the back of the line)... well, I don't relish the thought of that possibility. Either missing a flight or losing a FC UG because of that, besides the stress involved, keeps me leaning towards paper for the moment.
Nowadays, nearly everyone with an Internet-enabled phone is paying for unlimited data access as well, so this is a great convenience and time saving method. Of course, it's not implemented systemwide yet, but eventually I hope it would be.
Rgr. My home airport (FNT) likely doesn't have the capability yet anyway, so I'd need to at least start out my trip with paper. I imagine outside the hubs and major metro stations it will be awhile until the service trickles down to the outstations.
Meanwhile, paper will do as far as I'm concerned. Still, a neat idea once it's rolled out system-wide and the bugs are worked out.