Air France launches Electronic Boarding Pass on mobile phones

As from yesterday, Air France has launched electronic boarding passes on mobile phones. The only paper document needed to board is personal ID. This new paper-free service will initially concern passengers travelling on the 15 daily flights connecting Paris-CDG (terminal 2F1) to Amsterdam-Schiphol, in both directions.

Whatever their preferred booking mode, and once they have checked in via the mobile internet site http://mobile.airfrance.com, passengers on a Paris-Amsterdam-Paris flight can receive their boarding pass with a secure barcode by SMS or MMS directly on their mobile phone or by email if their telephone is equipped with internet access (smartphone).

This paper-free boarding pass contains all the written information displayed on a conventional boarding pass (boarding time, boarding gate, departure time, seat number and travel class). Passengers travelling with baggage simply proceed to the baggage drop-off counters where the barcode on their telephone is scanned.

As with e-tickets, all the customer’s reservation details remain accessible in the reservations system at all times. Should the customer’s telephone not be working or if, for example, their battery runs out, they can print out their boarding pass at a self-service kiosk or ask an Air France agent to print it out for them.

“This electronic boarding pass service is the next major technological innovation after e-ticketing”, commented Patrick Roux, VP Marketing Air France. “This is the first time customers will be able to travel to and from two countries with an electronic boarding pass”, he added.