helvetic

I've seen them at LAX for AA and DL and I am NOT IMPRESSED.

ms_go

For domestic flights, I check in on the app and use the mobile boarding pass. I email a PDF boarding pass to myself so that I have a record if needed. For international flights, I get paper boarding passes - either printed at home or at the airport if/when I check luggage. I carry extra power for the phone, so the battery isn't an issue. The only time I've ever had a problem with the electronic boarding pass disappearing from my phone before boarding was on AAnother AAirline.

DELee

Paper with electronic backup.

For those who've flown AA, you know why.

For those who fly with families, you know why.

For those who've been asked for a copy of documentation weeks or even months later, having a good copy, either paper and/or PDF and/or photograph/screen capture/etc., is still viable.

For those who only have to fly themselves around the planet, anything electronic and/or that communicates with other systems is still only as reliable as the weakest link in those systems.

For those who think that they're saving a tree or even trees, you have no idea how much paper is produced worldwide each and every year. Besides, you can also look at it as carbon capture since the flights you're taking anyway are far more prodigious in their carbon footprint effect.

David

thesun

I always get a paper one, even if I checked in online. I can only remember one time that I did not, right after the merger when there was a checkin meltdown. I prefer to have a travel document that isn't subject to bugs, power loss, and can be reliably and easily scanned.

Kannai

I was thinking about this after I posted. As someone who lives in Japan and uses my phone to get on trains and pay at supermarkets and convenient stores—plus travels on a variety of Asian airlines and rarely needs a paper BP—I don't see how how flying is some special thing that you just have to have a piece of paper for.

kale73

You say that now, but if there's none in the lav when you need it you might think differently.

timezone_trooper

TL;DR - I have every paper boarding pass for every flight from 2004 - present. Started as an accident and became a compulsion. That said, I always use OLCI and print out BP at airport, usually using the mobile BP at the gate reader.

Full story: when I started flying consistently after finishing college back in 2004, the process was pretty repetitive: put BP in the big scanner, receive the stub, look at seat number, stick stub in wallet. I'd put the stub on the corner of my counter at one of my corporate apartments, and after about 8 weeks there were quite a few of them. So I decided that I was going to keep them all, and I have. I was really bummed with the move from the heavy card stock to the thermal paper, and every now and then when I get a semi-heavy card stock BP I get pretty excited. Fast forward 15 years to present day, I've got a shoebox filled with over 1300 BPs; at some point I'm going to find someone far more creative than me to create some kind of artwork with all of them. Also, I still have a stack of the old, heavy gold ticket envelopes that I cherish

rabilancia

I am a true techno-geek (ask my family and friends)! I introduced the first PC to a Fortune 200 company; I've been on the internet since 1981 when there was no World Wide Web; I always have the latest gear; etc., etc. BUT, I am keenly aware that technology frequently fails (e.g., SABRE down yesterday & sensors on the 737 MAX). A long time ago I began using the expression, "The wonderful thing about technology is that it ever works at all." Hence, while I use my phone to check-in, I always get a paper boarding pass.

helvetic

Unless you're in Japan.

HeadInTheClouds

Ya know, this *kind of*. I do like during pre-boarding that it eliminates any and all questioning on the spot. Using a phone BP adds a slight (and appropriate) second glance from the GA as you approach. I guess the new mobile boarding passes might help this issue.

For me: UA GS - paper always. International - paper always*. Domestic other airlines - electronic.
*- I will do electronic on some stuff like intra-Shengen flights, domestic Canada/Mexico flights, etc. too.

I have no issues with the worries about phone reliability - those concerns are long in the past IMO.

plc44

Electronic unless it's a special trip that I'll want to keep the BP from.

Ie. UA747, SQ Suites, CX F

VegasGambler

I think that this is the difference between people who work in tech and people who use tech. People who use it expect it to work, because, why wouldn't it?

I see how the sausage is made on a daily basis and I have far less faith in complex systems. Each individual component has a long list of issues. Yet, somehow, you cobble them together the whole system more or less works. It's a house of cards though, and it does not take much to bring it down.

helvetic

I have worked in tech my whole life and know exactly how the sausage is made. I know what's likely to break, with what probability, and how frequently.

Truth is, with an iOS device and the Wallet app, there is almost zero probability it breaks on you last minute, and with the things I always carry while traveling (a battery pack) there's almost zero probability my phone in unexpectedly dies.

The wallet app stores passes offline and is built into the system. The app is incredibly reliable and has never failed me.

rabilancia

Very well put!

Oregonflyer

x = p(phone not working - or worse, leaving it in the lounge)
y = p(leaving paper BP behind or not being able to find it)

Why not prefer something closer to 1 - x*y than 1 - x or 1 - y even if both x and y are small?

[Yes, I know they are not independent. Hence "closer".]