There’s good reason that many of us New Yorkers think that we could never live anywhere else. Many of us believe that we’re often “out in front” on the cutting edge. That means the latest fashions, the newest gadgets, the best shows… and the list goes on.
With this in mind, many of us will be excited to hear about Delta’s latest and greatest in electronic check-in. And, guess where we’re testing it? Hint: not at Delta’s world headquarters in Atlanta, but, instead… you guessed it! New York City. (Click the image for a larger iPhone example of our LGA test)
Just last week, Delta Air Lines, in partnership with the Federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA), began testing paperless mobile check-in for customers traveling from New York-LaGuardia (LGA) to any U. S. destination. What this means is that you have the option of bypassing the lobby by using their PDA and other Web-enabled device to check in for domestic travel from LGA to any U. S. airport. How great does this sound? You can use your electronic boarding pass, displayed on your mobile device - no paper! - to proceed to the security checkpoint, and then straight to the gate to board your flight.
I’ve mentioned before how Delta is focused on respecting, enhancing, and saving your time wherever we can throughout the travel experience. This means from booking your ticket all the way through picking up your bag at your final destination. Paperless mobile check-in is one more way that we’re “putting our money where our mouth is,” so to speak. It’s no secret that checking in online from the comfort of home or office has become quite popular. But this latest advancement means that, at LaGuardia, when traveling to a U. S. destination, it’s even easier than that. Imagine checking in for your flight, for example, when in your taxi or car to the airport; or, when you’re walking from the parking lot to the Delta terminal. Go right through the doors to the TSA security line - mobile device in hand - and you’re on your way. It works if you’re checking bags, too. Just head for the Delta bag drop location prior to security screening.
Now, the check-in process can take place from anywhere, at any time withing 24 hours of flight departure. At the same time, think “green.” You’ll be helping environmental sustainability by reducing paper and ink usage. No matter how you look at it, we believe that this is a winner!
After the test is successfully completed in LaGuardia, we hope to leverage paperless check-in across our domestic system, to and from any U. S. airport.
If you’re heading out of LaGuardia on Delta, first of all, thank you. Secondly, experience our newest check-in technology by giving paperless mobile check-in a try. And let us know how what you think. We’re listening.
As always, thank you for choosing Delta. We appreciate your business.
Brian T. Rutter
Director - Sales & Marketing
New York
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
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June 24th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Does this work if you have a screen protector on your screen?
June 24th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Thanks for your question, gonepetetong. The answer is, “it depends.” Different screen protectors are, well, different. Please give it a try on your next departure from LGA. Thanks for your support of Delta.
Brian
June 24th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I don’t get it - so when you get through security and get to the get, do you need to obtain a paper boarding pass from the gate agent? If not, how do you board the flight. I am thinking this would hold up the boarding process because the agent collecting tickets at the boarding door would have to stop and read the device. Give us more details how this works once you get through security.
Thanks!
June 24th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Tommy Zee, thanks for your question.
Once you pass through security you may board your flight by showing your device to your gate agent. He or she will scan your mobile device just as a paper boarding pass. No need to read it or to print out a paper pass. Hope this helps!
June 24th, 2008 at 10:56 am
[...] rolling it out last year, and lately both Continental and Delta have put out tests of their own. Delta just put out a blog post on their test as well. It sounds great in theory, but you might want to think twice about it if [...]
June 25th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Ok, I have a blackberry 8288 world phone. Do I need to do anything special to my phone? Like Load new software? Also, I’ve heard comments from CO flyers that say the Java you have load slows the blackberry down.
Finally, where can we see the results of the testing and what DL’s rollout plans would be?
Thanks!
Nick
June 25th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I really want to try this. I think it’s a great idea and it should catch on in a couple of years. More and more people use cell phones nowadays and internet services are either not that expensive or included in cell phone plans so everything should be fine.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:22 am
NickBjr, thank you for the additional questions. You shouldn’t have to install any new software. You’ll simply use the browser on your mobile device to check in.
We are optimistic about this new capability; however, we won’t know the full implementation plan until we have the opportunity to measure and understand our success at LaGuardia. For now, please try it at LGA, and stay tuned! Thanks for your support.
Brian
July 24th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I’d like to know if this test is still going on. I will be flying in to out LGA alot over the next 6 - 7 months and this would be great. I tried it last week and the TSA person didn’t know anything about mobile check-in.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
This is cool ! Also… I was please to discover Delta was ready with a custom icon for my iPhone when saved Delta.com onto the Home screen!