Yesterday I flew Delta Air Lines, using their nifty iPhone app to check in for my flight and for my mobile boarding pass. Once I checked in, I used my iPhone’s camera feature to snap a screen shot picture of my boarding pass. Why, you ask? I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had issues getting mileage credit for flights I’ve taken, but when I did have an issue, I had to provide a copy of my boarding pass. Just how the heck does one accomplish that if you use an electronic boarding pass? Exactly. A picture is the only possible solution I can think of. Here’s to hoping I never have to worry about it, but just in case something happens, I’ll have a pic of my boarding pass. What do you think of electronic boarding passes? Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Unfortunately my accounting department requires hard copy boarding passes to get reimbursed. When I travel for business I get hard copy, but personal I do electronic and snap the screen shot.
On an iPhone, screen shots are easy to do, so that’s what I do when I use a mobile boarding pass. If nothing else, it saves the problem of airport connectivity, too.
@John (#4) You don’t have to wait. At ATL (and most ATL stations) you can use your Medallion card to board. Just scan the barcode on the back and your seat assignment will print out on the little piece of paper – like when you’re upgraded at the gate. No need to wait for the app to show the barcode. (Side note: At least Delta IT got this function right…)
I always snap a photo of my boarding pass for the same reason John does — for possible slow internet connections at the TSA check-in or at the boarding door. It’s much quicker to display a photo than to get to a website.
On the occasions where I have had DL flights fail to post, I’ve always been able to fix it with a quick call to the medallion desk, no documentation needed. YMMV, these have mostly been IROPS, and there aren’t many examples, but just calling worked.
This is a fantastic idea for another reason too. There have been times I have been in the Atlanta airport and not been able to pull up my app boarding pass because of the really slow data transfer rates with everyone eating up bandwidth. So I have to stand at the gate waiting for it to come up before I can board. Having a picture should allow me to no longer worry about that. Genius!
Your ticket number will show up on your credit card statement. In the past, that’s all I’ve needed to request credit for past flights, or those the system missed.
If I do web check-in I save the PDF for later. If I do mobile check-in I do a screenshot on my mobile device. (Home button + Power button in iOS)
When I fly UA I have them email me a PDF of the boarding passes so I have them easily accessible and backed up.