Israel's national airline El Al is working towards making traveling a little easier on its customers, by shortening waiting time before boarding flights. The company has recently completed a trial of a new mobile boarding pass program that will help people avoid the airport's long lines.
In the new service, a barcode that will act as a boarding pass will be sent directly to the customers' cell phones or PDA's and will include all the flight's information, and save passengers the need to stand in line at the check-in counter.
Once the barcode is activated, customers will be able to check in to the flight from home, and have the barcode sent to their cell phone or via email. Passengers traveling with only carry-on luggage will be able to go straight to security and then to the boarding gate, where the barcode is scanned before boarding the aircraft.
Anyone traveling with suitcases will be directed to a special express line to check the luggage, and then head for security, without having to wait in line behind the other passengers checking in.
The mobile boarding pass system is actually already active at Ben Gurion International Airport, but, for technical reasons, is yet to be activated via cell phones or PDAs. "We are ready with the cellular service that many airlines around the world use," said David Maimon, El Al's senior vice president of customer service.
"The company is able to activate the cellular service now in most airports around the world, but since half of the company's activity is at Ben Gurion, the company has decided to start the service at the airport at home," he added.
Once the service is activated at the airport, customers of other airlines that use the service will be able to enjoy it there as well. Most airports around the world have special lines for the mobile boarding pass service, which shortens the long boarding lines and makes the entire process more comfortable.
Saving over $1.5 billion per year
According to the International Air Transport Association, the switch from magnetic boarding cards to mobile bar-coded passes will save airlines around the world over $1.5 billion per year.
IATA data recently presented at a conference in Kuala Lumpur showed that over 200 airlines, including Delta, Continental and Lufthansa are already using the bar-coded boarding pass and scanning devices can be found in some 400 airports around the globe.
The association estimates the use of bar-coded boarding passes will be fully implemented by 2010, and all passengers will be able to forget about boarding passes and take the fast track to the aircraft using their cell phones.
The Israel Airports Authority said on Tuesday it was preparing Ben Gurion Airport for the switch and has installed barcode scanners at all of the airport's gates at an investment of some NIS 1 million ($260,000).
According to the IAA, airlines operating in Ben Gurion Airport are already able to use the barcode system. However, the service will remain unavailable via cell phone or PDA for the time being.