Apple iPhone Boarding Pass: United Airlines Innovation

Last week, I was headed to Inveneo’s offices in San Francisco for my bi-monthly check-in with the team. Before I ran out the door, I skipped one step that we’re all familiar with – the boarding pass printing.

Instead, I just make sure my iPhone was charged up as I jump into the taxicab. While we sped down Rock Creek Parkway and onto 66, I pulled up the United.com mobile site and checked-in using my iPhone, and when done, requested the boarding pass be emailed to me.

Zap! Seconds later, I had an email with a special scan code. I showed this to the TSA at the Diamond Lane Checkpoint, who was a little confused at first, but then swiped my phone on his scanner and waved me on.

Then, at the United Airlines flight gate, I did the same – I waved my phone over the check-in desk scanner and with a beep of confirmation, I walked onto the plane. How nice!

Now it’d be nice if I could check-in online and have a mobile phone boarding pass emailed to me directly, but United has a convoluted process. You need to check-in online via your smartphone, which then emails you a link back to another webpage with your boarding pass. Annoying but worth it.

Never having to worry about printing out a boarding pass is just one small step towards United Airlines being a joy to fly again.