AFAM-DFW

aaronp84

You can lock your screen to prevent it from turning. I've never had a problem using a passbook boarding pass as it automatically adjust the brightness to the highest setting when viewing a boarding pass - it scans every single time. Having a paper boarding pass is just something else to keep up with at this point and not needed.

dmbolp

Paper doesn't require any of those screen locking/turning settings, or brightness to the highest setting

All my pants have pockets that easily hold the paper boarding pass

If I'm at a PC anytime from T-24 to heading to the airport, I print it out. If not, I'll use the app.

Most flights for me now are BS, so then I also have to screenshot/passport the drink coupon as it disappears at takeoff

smmrfld

OK then. 100+/- flights a year and have never had a screen rotation problem or had need for a paper pass to line up in the right place. But I understand that some are reluctant to embrace technology.

Proudelitist

This. I use BOTH actually.

I print the paper one because as you say, I am not about to waste my own battery life so WN can save 1 cent on a piece of paper, they don't scan well anyhow, I don't want to be that guy at the gate or TSA who has to login to his phone and find it while everyone else waits, and in the event that I lose my phone or it dies, I have the paper pass.

And I do download and keep the electronic one on my phone, although I only use it if I lose the paper BP. It's more of a backup to have it on my phone than the primary BP.

As someone said here, electronic BP's are a solution in search of a problem.

But I suspect that WN was taking on liability in tossing the BP's in the trash at the gate. There is alot of information there. Better to let the customer retain custody of it the whole time, and as a result, responsibility for it.

Proudelitist

No you don't.

BearX220

This debate reminds me of the first clunky customer service interfaces that went up during Internet 1.0, 20+ years ago... you could go online to order a pizza, go through about 15 laborious steps, and congratulate yourself for being leading-edge... or just call the pizzeria and probably have the pie at the door before the computer geek logged off.

ursine1

And how do you order now?

There's definitely the argument that mobile boarding passes as implemented don't yet take full advantage of the technology -- Southwest especially. But when your flight is cancelled and you're rebooked automatically and have a BP pushed to your phone -- instead of waiting in a huge line -- the benefit is obvious.

Hot Pocket

I wouldn't make an extra stop to get a paper BP, but if I'm checking a bag anyway, it takes the agent 5 seconds to print one. If nothing else, it offers redundancy in the event that legendary WN IT strikes (I have experienced the app failing to launch).

BearX220

I use an app that was undreamed of 20 years ago. The tech has evolved mightily since those rickety 1996 websites. And that's the whole point. When the value / usability / speed / reliability proposition finally swings away from paper, I and many more will follow. But frankly I expect phone-based QR codes to be a short-lived stopgap BP solution. We'll have an RFID or bio solution overtake them soon enough.

harold

Not sure how it works on Android but in iOS all you have to do is hit the "i" on the front of the boarding pass in Wallet. That reveals the details including proof of a drink coupon. No connection necessary.

LegalTender

I think not.

Across Europe, QR codes are how you get into security lines. No human interaction. A green light at the portal and you're stacking your stuff in bins. A red light..and you're pressed for further confirmation. Airline and government interfaces are exquisitely seamless.

ursine1

I think comparing 20 year-old internet technology to today's mobile boarding passes is a bit of a stretch. Even factoring in Southwest's IT.

Certainly new technologies are coming that will streamline the process. But I have to laugh at some of the "reasons" offered here against mobile BPs. Auto-rotate? Brightness?

Seriously!? Is your phone from 1996?

Cledaybuck

Am I the only one who still calls to order a pizza? The websites still take forever and my phone yells at me enough as it is about being almost out of space to add another app.

Cledaybuck

Do Southwest even allow multiple BP's in the app yet?