BA customers flying from Heathrow to Edinburgh will be able to get their boarding pass sent directly to their iPhone from next week, as part of the carrier’s revamped mobile apps offering.
British Airways is relaunching its iPhone app on Monday July 19, at the same time as launching Blackberry and Google Android apps for the first time.
The carrier first launched an iPhone app in 2008, and it has been downloaded by over half a million passengers. The relaunched application will be some way ahead of the Blackberry and Android alternatives, being the only platform (for now) offering mobile boarding pass technology.
Users will need to be registered with BA’s Executive Club to use the relaunched app, as it will use details of bookings stored in the member’s account to enable functionality such as online check-in and the mobile boarding pass, which will initially only be available on the London Heathrow to Edinburgh route, from next Monday.
The carrier then plans to roll out the boarding pass service across its domestic routes, before gradually adding it to international services, when, as head of digital marketing Chris Davies said, it will be “especially welcome for those customers unable to print off their own boarding passes when returning from overseas”.
Other features of the iPhone app include access to Executive Club details, updates on flight departure times, BA’s timetables up to one year ahead, and links to the carrier’s Twitter page. The Android app is somewhat simpler at present (although updates are planned), offering access to users’ Executive Club accounts, and arrivals and departure times, while the Blackberry app goes one stage further, allowing users to synch bookings with the mobile phone’s calendar.
For more information visit ba.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
For a report on other airlines offering mobile boarding passes in the latest issue of Business Traveller, click here.
