As with any other app, you can turn off location services if you are concerned about it.

Also, the nice thing about having the bp in passbook is that you will get updates (gate changes, etc) on the home screen. The bp itself shows up on the home screen as a line item (like a reminder for a meeting), but I thought was annoying, so I turned that off. Apparently that was the only way to get rid of it, though when it's there, you can slide it to the right and go right to it. Yes, I still get notification center updates from the united.app, etc, also, so there is some duplication with update notifications.

When I went to use it, it was easier to get to with the passbook app.

Yes all relatively minor things, but anything that's easier to use is, IMO, a good thing.

-David