Consolidated "Thermal Paper Boarding Pass Discussion" Thread [Merged]
 

I don't think I've seen this posted yet (please delete/lock if its a dup)

I checked in at IAD using the 1K line over labor day weekend and got a flimsy white boarding pass. Talking with the agent, she said they just got a new printer and everyone will soon only get the white cards, no more gold/blue colors. I noticed that other stations were still giving out the gold/blue cards (I was tempted to stop and ask them to reprint mine).

The paper was the flimsy stuff that used to come out of all EZ Check in machines :td: ... I figure the ink will last maybe a month on those things for anyone that likes to save your bps. There was a definite cheap feel to the bp - I hope she's wrong and its a temporary thing at that one station. Anyone else hear of a change to bp stock?

they have the same ones in OGG - feel like I'm getting a receipt from a gas pump!

OMG - That's it EXACTLY!! They are just cheap and horrid.

Sounds disgusting. I assume they are barcode only and no magstripe then? What happens with out interline flight on carriers with magstripe only BP's? LH & BD come to mind...

Please don't make this standard, UA! :eek: :eek: :td: :td:

AA has flimsy thermal BPs come out of the self-service machines, but printouts from agents still use the stock. I would think GA's would get frustrated trying to juggle several flimsy BPs at a time in an oversell, standby or UG situation.

I have been seeing the flimsy white passes about a month ago at the self check-in machines in IAD's C concourse.

I just did LAX-IAD and LAX-JFK in the past two weeks, and I have yet to come across such a BP from the check-in agent.

I have no doubt these will be the standard going forward as each printer systemwide is eventually replaced. Why would they be introduced at all if the intent were not to convert to these new BP's to save $$ on the paper costs? Personally I don't care about them being "cheap and flimsy" because I'd much rather them save $ on paper than by cutting out something I care about much more on board! But my concern is that it will slow boarding when everyone is using them and we'll all have to have them scanned by the laser as we board the plane...and those laser scanners are often quite a bit slower than the speedy read and slice machines used now.

I'd LOVE to see a boarding pass that comes up on my palm/ blackberry screen that can be scanned. If I ever want to print it, I can do so on whatever paper I want.

Can't you do that now with OLCI?

Sure, but sometimes I want to check in when there is no printer around (like in the cab to the airport, or while in line at easychicken at a crowded airport when the clock is ticking). With a virtual palm/ blackberry boarding pass, I can always save the screen to print out later.

I do hope that the counters and gates retain the cardstock BPs. The paper ones tend to get crumpled very easily, not to mention the fact that they simply don't hold up over time at all.

I did notice at JFK the other day that UA was "low" on cardstock at several gates, and agents were running between them to try to get stacks to replace in each of their stations to print BPs, DM cards, etc.

:td:

I know it's silly, and I know it probably makes $$$ sense, and there are many things I care about more than the paper stock my BP comes on...

But.

This would be very sad. I spent many, many years as a GM, looking enviously at others' gold BPs before finally this year hitting 2P. I like the gold ones. Would be a shame to lose them.

:(

It was bad enough getting these from the EZ Chickens..

I really hope this doesn't spread to all UA stations or anything! :td: :td:

Originally I thought this post was about a 1st time experience with a thermal paper Easy Check-in machine...but I guess it sounds like UA is going for the big change to this systemwide. Boo. :td: