Continental check in via cell phone

April 25th 2008

Continental Airlines passengers can now check into their flight through an email enabled cell phone. It's just as good as a paper boarding pass you would normally use in just about every city.

Today, Continental said it would develop more paperless boarding systems at Newark and Boston airports within the next two weeks. The paperless implementation was a subsequent follow up to the introduction of the cell phone check in service, which occurred this week at the Ronald Reagan National airport in Washington.

How it works-Continental emails passengers' cell phones and other PDA devices. The email includes an encrypted bar code along with flight information. TSA officials then use hand held scanners to certify passes. Only passengers flying alone and domestically are eligible for the service.

TSA and Continental, the first U.S. carrier to test out the system, stated that the technology enhances the ability to identify fraudulent boarding passes, reduces paper consumption and improves customer service.