Seems like paperless travel is becoming a reality sooner than we thought. Say goodbye to printed boarding passes and long queues at the airport for Google Now has added a new feature called 'Boarding Pass card' that pulls your boarding pass automatically from your Gmail's online check-in data.
The announcement came via the company's
@Android Twitter account that also contained a YouTube video demonstrating the convenient feature.
To use the new feature, flyers must normally check-in online with their airline. Once checked in, Google Now will automatically retrieve a digital boarding pass, complete with a barcode, on your behalf.
The digital boarding pass will contain various details regarding you flight such as terminal information, gate number and seat number. Once at the airport, you can just present your QR Code at the gate, which is scanned.
Users must note that the service only works with certain airlines at the moment and currently Google has not provided details on which airlines support the feature. Also, you should be equipped with a device supporting Android 4.1 or higher, since Google Now comes with Jelly Bean. The new feature from Google Now is a gradual roll out, in case you're wondering why it hasn't reached you yet.
In the Indian context, there aren't any airlines that support paperless boarding passes in the country, though it would be an interesting way to experience air travel if the digital boarding pass were to become a reality for Indian users.
On more similar grounds,
Cleartrip has added Apple's Passbook support to its travel app for iPhone and iPod touch devices running iOS 6 or higher and any Mac running OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2 or later).
Cleartrip app offers Passbook integration for air tickets, train bookings and hotel reservations whereby confirmation e-mails sent by Cleartrip will now have a separate pass file attached in addition to their regular PDF ticket.
Travellers can also access these passes from within their Cleartrip Account through desktop or mobile browsers, from where they will be able to e-mail these passes.
The passes will basically offer details through QR codes which can be used by Airlines for checking-in passengers before boarding.