Rating: Android & Blackberry users have to wait for barcode capability
It’s an extremely limited roll-out, but some British Airways passengers as from today [19th July] are able to download a boarding pass (complete with barcode) which can then be read at the departure gate. It’s a great step forward but currently restricted to the Apple iPhone.
British Airways does actually have a free app for the Android and Blackberry owning communities. However, the boarding pass facility is presently only available via the iPhone app.
In addition, you also have to be a member of the British Airways Executive club and the facility only applies into internal (ie British) flights at the moment.
“The Mobile Boarding Pass feature for Executive Club iPhone users will be especially welcome for those customers unable to print off their own boarding cards when returning from overseas,” pointed out Chris Davies, BA’s head of digital marketing.
BA actually claims its iPhone app was the first such app to be developed by an airline and to date it has had roughly half a million downloads.
If you want the BA app, search on the Blackberry App World, the Android Market, or the iTunes App Store using the keywords ‘British Airways’ and you should be able to find it.
British Airways didn’t say but GoMo News assumes that it is upgrading its boarding gate scanners to be able to read barcodes from handset screens. Which is probably why the roll-out isn’t more widespread initially.
Upadate: See follow-up story … BA’s barcode causes confusion
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Interesting that they have gone with a DataMatrix code NOT a QR code! according to the pic)
Actually, you’re mistaken. It’s not Datamatrix it’s Aztec. See follow-up story here
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