Air Canada testing 2D barcode boarding (4)
Last week, some passengers flying from Montreal could use barcodes on their cell phone, blackberry or PDA as their boarding pass. From the article:
Passengers involved in the pilot test first check in without baggage on mobile.aircanada.com. This generates a 2D barcode – in fact an e-boarding pass – which is sent directly to their mobile device.
They then use this e-boarding pass to cross screening check points and to board the aircraft. 2D barcodes can be found on all Web itinerary receipts and on the paper boarding passes issued by an agent, at a kiosk or through Web check-in.
This new technology will expedite processes for our customers at the airport, where they will be able to cross multiple touch points using a single document, thus simplifying their travel experience.
Air Canada is conducting the six-week testing period in partnership with Lipso, UQAM’s École de Technologie Supérieure and Aéroports de Montréal.
This technology is part of their extreme makeover project, a $300 million investment that also include major improvement in their aircraft’s interior. It’s nice to see an airliner focus on customers instead of cutting costs, which most airliners are doing these days.
fyi
Hi,
I live in Montreal. I have followed the Mobile space (Mobile ticketing, Mobile Couponing, Mobile barcode scanning, Mobile Check-in, Mobile loyalty…) since Winter 2004.
Gavitec’s lavasphere, Kaywa, and Glass reader can decipher “all open 2D codes” (QR, Datamatrix). Lavasphere is a key component of Glass.
http://www.activeprint.org/glass.html
Gavitec will be a key player in Mobile check-in & Mobile Ticketing (The Airline Industry).
Gavitec has become an IATA Strategic Partner for 2D bar code.
http://www.iata.org/html_email/3954300-stb-newsletter/stb_enewsletter_March07.htm
http://www.iata.org/sp/PartnerDetail?partner=1712
Gavitec has been designed and implemented a full solution Mobile Ticketing, Mobile Check-in/Mobile Check-in by fingerprint (biometric identification of passengers) in service collaboration with leading providers Siemens Business Services and SITA (PDF File - Page 30)
http://www.gavitec.com/fileadmin/template/main/downloads/MD_CorporatePresentation_F0607.pdf
Gavitec has also been designed and implemented a full solution Mobile Ticketing, Mobile Check-in/Mobile Check-in by fingerprint in service collaboration with Unisys
http://www.unisys.com/eprise/main/admin/micro/doc/1Q07_AirCoreNEWS.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2006/12/20/211237/jumping-the-queue-mobile-phone-check-in.html
http://www.aci.aero/aci/aciworld/file/Cape%20Town/Presentations/VonEwe_Airports-Mean-Technology.pdf
Air Canada has tested Sita’s Mobile check-in
http://www.ftd.de/karriere_management/business_english/:Business%20English%20Board/205577.html
Spanair will test Mobile check-in (Mobiqa’s solution)
http://www.mobiqa.com/images/media/spanair.pdf
http://www.canalpda.com/2007/06/04/3262-spanair+vodafone+espana+presentan+tarjeta+embarque+movil
http://www.hoytecnologia.com/noticias/Vodafone-Spanair-prueban-futura/11796
Swissport has also tested Sita’s Mobile Check-in.
http://www.swissport.info/products/serv_eservices.php
http://www.swissport.info/mediacenter/index_news.php?id=245&ref=archive
British Airways will soon use Sita’s Mobile Check-in.
http://www.mbmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2343&Itemid=62&dm_i=117445421
Why BA will use Sita’s Mobile Check-in?
Paul Coby is chairman of airline industry IT body SITA and CIO of British Airways.
http://www.iata.org/NR/rdonlyres/F74A421B-6647-42B4-97E8-9537ED72B642/0/PaulCoby.pdf
http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/travel/0,3800011481,391
[...] Air Canada is testing barcodes for quick and mobile checking at Dorval (July 3rd) [...]
To say the readers are the only way to make this work is to know too little about the technical elements involved.
FYI, this project doesn’t require any specific hardware, in fact the readers used are the one already in place.
And in this case, the barcode is not use to print your boarding pass, the barcode IS your boarding pass.
In your comments, all the “existing” test only work on GSM phone, this one works on both GSM and CDMA phone. This is key in a market like north america where 50% of wireless users are CDMA subscribers.
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