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American Airlines expands mobile boarding passes to four airports

American Airlines has expanded its mobile boarding passes to four more airports, providing more consumers the option to expedite travel by using their handsets.

The airlines? four location include London Heathrow, Colorado Springs, San Jose and Washington Reagan. The company now has 42 airports that provide the mobile boarding pass service.

?The strategy is to be as responsive to our customers as we can be by equipping our employees with the necessary tools to ensure the best possible interaction ? both in the terminal and at the gate,? said Stacey F. Frantz, director of corporate communications at American Airlines, Fort Worth, TX.

?American Airlines customers are mobile by definition, so we?re providing them with one more tool to make their travel faster and easier,? she said. ?We are getting the word out about this through our own Web site and banner ads on the site and the media.

American Airlines serves 250 cities in 40 countries with, on average, more than 3,400 daily flights.

Fly mobile
The airline used mobile boarding passes, which have a two-dimensional 2D bar code.

Travelers can check in for their flight by going to the company?s Web site and opt to receive boarding pass on their handsets.

Consumers then receive an email with a link to the boarding pass.

Travelers scan their smartphone screen with the 2D bar code when they go through security checkpoints and American Airlines gates.

?Since we first launched mobile boarding over a year ago, the number of customers selecting the mobile boarding option has really picked up,? Ms. Frantz said. ?In many of our U.S. cities, nearly 10 percent of passengers checking in on AA.com are selecting this option. 

?In some cities, they are in the high teens and at George Bush International Airport in Houston, more than 20 percent are selecting the option,? she said. ?More and more of our customers are clearly embracing the green initiative.?

Mobile tickets
Additionally, consumers who wish to check bags can also use the electronic option by scanning the boarding pass on their handset at American Airlines self-service machines, ticket counters, or curbside check-in facilities.

The company also has a new mobile services for its customers, which will be available soon.

?Our YADA mobile device, which stands for Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere, allows agents to come out from behind the counter and provide real-time information to customers anywhere in the airport, print bag tags and boarding passes and provide other answers,? Ms. Frantz said. ?The ability to print boarding passes is a recent enhancement that has been well received by our customers.?

Final take
Rimma Kats, editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer, New York.