rylan

Yeah but in the meantime, it appears that the number of DL kiosks is increasing as they drive more self-service for check in and bag tagging. Why reduce one of the ways you can log in to look up your flight?

And, until DL fixes the dysfunctional 'new and improved' app interface for flights I will continue to obtain a physical boarding pass. Too many issues with it caching, pulling old data, not refreshing properly etc etc.

tennessetom

I was told it was for security purposes, I only half believe the answer but fraud is rampant these days so who knows and delta is trying to increase use of fave recognition

DLHubber

I don’t understand how you people are not showing up to the airport checked in with a boarding pass. DL has had enough tech meltdowns to make this basically gambling. I always check in on the app at T-24, add my BP to my Apple Wallet and go on with my day. No matter what happens the next day, I’ve got my BP ready to go. Only time I visit a kiosk is if I’m checking bags.

ATOBTTR

Who's to say we aren't checking in on the app in advance? I often check-in via the app anyway. But I still often (not always) opt to print a boarding pass once I arrive at the airport, especially if checking bags as I prefer to put the bag claim stickers on the back of the boarding pass for my last segment. I also prefer having a paper boarding pass as a back-up to my phone in case my phone battery runs low and I can't recharge it. I have had that happen when the charging ports on the plane on a long segment didn't work and my phone battery was pretty low on arrival. It was nice to not have to worry about whether my phone was still going to have enough battery power to be able to scan for the next flight.

lindros2

We’ve had app outages - cannot get boarding pass - twice in 6 months.
Yes, should have saved to device. But with kids we didn’t or couldn’t

bennos

My first thought was that this would be for security purposes. Your SM# is an "identifier", it says who you are, it is not an "authenticator", it doesn't prove who you are. This is why when you login via the website you don't just type in your SM#, you also enter a password. I always thought it a bit odd that I just needed to enter my SM# at the kiosk, though tbh entering your PNR Locator isn't much better.

Presumably it hasn't been much of an issue until now because relatively few people go to the airport and just randomly type in SM #s hoping to luck in to somebody who happens to be traveling that day, and presumably who also shares their name so that they can take their BP and clear security. (And even then that wouldn't prevent the original traveler from reprinting their own BP and then the GA would have to sort out the mess at boarding.) I guess somebody could maliciously (and anonymously) muck around with somebody else's itinerary, but again this seems unlikely. And while occasional reports of SM theft get posted here, I still don't see what this change does since if somebody steals your SM to book a ticket they presumably have the PNR Locator to check in that way.

So while entering an SM# only is not what we'd call an industry best practice, it's not really clear to me what the attack vector is for this particular scenario.

zdcatc12

I do the same as you. Another reason that I print the passes is so that I can throw my phone in my bag before I get to security, so it is one less thing that I have to worry about.

DLASflyer

Yeah I haven't used a kiosk in years. If I can't do something in the app, I'm calling or seeing an agent.

lindros2

I know the Delta CISO.
This is not the legitimate answer from “whomever told you.”
Delta has more security problems beyond CUSS and in house kiosks.
There are 15-20 ways to verify identity … after someone spoofed a boarding pass.

HDQDD

Sad to hear this. I got lucky, with the exception of the first two digits, my SM# is all double repeating digits. (i.e. ABXXYYZZWWUU). Easy to remember and type.

Exactly my thoughts. It's not like you can book travel or get cash from a kiosk. About the worst you could do is sign someone up to VDB at a low offer.

HDQDD

I would advise that person to avoid FT. Lots of people in this forum seem to have major (often misplaced) anger issues with DL IT.

uanj

Same here. Phone goes into the computer bag on the shuttle to the airport. My Skymiles number is so easy, ABCCCCDEEE.

WillBarrett_68

It's 2023, you fly enough to be a DM, you have serious worries (based on actual experience!) about running out of battery power in transit, and yet you don't have a USB battery pack thing?

WillBarrett_68

the amount of time you spend printing boarding passes for every flight is going to add up over the course of your lifetime to probably 100x the time you spend trying to get one printed every time your phone actually dies and there is no method to charge it.

ATOBTTR

Stopping by the kiosk to print a boarding pass has no impact on when I arrive at the airport so I'm either A) spending that 2 minutes printing a boarding pass at kiosk or B) spending that 2 minutes sitting somewhere else in the airport where I'll end up sitting anyway while browsing my email or reading FT until boarding time so this becomes "zero sum" in terms of it "costing" any real time I would otherwise see as valuable.