Jetstar To Offer SMS Boarding Passes From November

Online check-in is great, but difficult if you don’t have access to a printer on the road. Jetstar will simplify that process in November when it allows passengers to use an SMS as their boarding pass.

Geoff Easdown at the Herald Sun reports that the service, created by a young Melbourne IT developer, will begin being trialled at Avalon Airport in Melbourne, and eventually roll out to all Jetstar flights over the next two years.

The gushing Herald Sun piece somewhat overstates the uniqueness of the service. BA already offers a mobile phone check-in option, as do Continental in the US, and Qantas has run trials using scannable barcodes in the past.

The new angle is using SMS rather than MMS. However, in this field, it’s definitely a case of “the more the merrier”. Just make sure your battery is fully charged before heading to the airport.

Jetstar’s world-first SMS boarding passes [Herald Sun]