Paper or Electronic Boarding Pass

Yesterday I went to print my airplane boarding pass at the office before heading to the airport. One of my good friends seemed surprised that I didn't just send the boarding pass to my phone. He knows me as a technically-savvy guy and figured an electronic boarding pass on the phone is better than a printed one.

This is a discussion I have with several of my frequent flyer buddies all the time. Some of us prefer paper tickets while others prefer electronic ones. While I can't speak for everyone I can tell you why I prefer paper boarding passes: They are faster when going through TSA. When you spend as much time at an airport as I do, you start to notice that the people who slow down the security line are those trying to pull up their electronic tickets on their phones. The rest of us are stuck waiting behind them and even though we are not that much slower, it sure feels like it.

What is even worse is when a family tries to go through security and all of the tickets are on Dad or Mom's phone. You might as well just lie down and take a nap.

There is a secret if you insist on keeping your boarding pass on your phone. When you initially load the boarding pass onto your phone, look at it and take a screen shot being sure to capture the 2-dimensional bard code. Then you don't have to worry about having a fast network connection or where to pull up your boarding pass. Just bring up the screen shot and you will get through security without delay.

The second reason I prefer a paper boarding pass over using my phone is that the ticket readers take longer with a phone than with a piece of paper. Last night I boarded my flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake and my paper ticket scanned two to three times faster than Alex's who used his phone.

Now the detractors of paper tickets tout that they are not wasting paper by printing a ticket and they have a point. If saving paper is high on your list of priorities, then use the screenshot trick. As for me, I look for other ways of saving paper. Two pieces of paper a week is not that much. Also, paper does grow on trees.

Printed Airline Tickets

This morning I got up and boarded my usual flight to Oakland from Salt Lake City. My son flew with me and we had a nice flight together. As we headed through the airport I noticed a number of differences between our experiences. I always print up a paper ticket after checking in online. My son sent his ticket to his phone and saved on the cost of a sheet of paper. I thought I would comment on the differences seen today.

My son woke up at 7am yesterday and checked in for his flight using his mobile phone. I knew I was going to print my ticket and so I waited until I was near a computer before I checked in. As I fly a lot more than my son, I still had a better boarding position on Southwest because of my "A-List" status. If I needed to check in exactly 24 hours before my flight, I would have used my phone and then had to print a ticket later. Mark this as a win for the ticket on the phone.

We got to the airport this morning and I pulled out my ticket to hand to the TSA representative along with my government issued ID. The security person took my ticket and wrote all over it as she verified my name on both documents. My son had to pull out his phone and hold it so the TSA agent could verify his name with his ID. It actually took a bit longer than my process but not enough to make a difference.

The last and final spot where an airline ticket is needed is when boarding the plane. I just pulled my ticket out, handed it to the gate agent, and boarded the plane without slowing down. My son had to pull out his phone, unlock the screen, find his ticket, hold it just right so the scanner could read the digital code, and then boarded the plane. It is this last process where the paper ticket wins out over the one on the phone.

If I look at the score for each method of presenting an airline ticket, it seems to be a draw. However since I don't rely on checking in at a set time due to my frequent flyer status, the paper ticket has a slight advantage when it comes to boarding the plane. Perhaps I should give the ticket on my phone more of a chance and see if I prefer it though. That is something I will definitely think about.

Paper Airline Tickets

This weekend I had to stay in the Bay Area for a mock earthquake drill. As luck would have it, there was an actual earthquake, albeit only a 3.2 magnitude rumble. As I didn't go back to Utah for the weekend, I decided to fly my wife to San Francisco and have her join me. It turned out to be a very fun weekend and we both enjoyed it a lot.

As with all airlines, my wife checked into her flight 24 hours before its scheduled departure. She then printed up her own ticket that she brought to the airport. For the return trip, we visited my office and repeated the process. The airline never had to print anything for my wife's flight. I have to ask myself how much the airline saves in paper and printing costs. I imagine it is significant.

Then there are applications for smart phones from most of the major airlines that don't require you to use any paper at all for your ticket. Simply bring up the app, show the special bar code at security, and then again before you board the plane.

20 years ago everyone was talking about how computers would reduce the amount of paper in the world. Unfortunately everyone was so accustomed to printing things that we saw a spike in the amount of paper used worldwide. Maybe now we should see that statistic drop. Unfortunately a quick search on the Internet doesn't provide any clue as to it that is happening or not. At least we know it is with regards to airline tickets.