what is your experience with online check-in, qr codes, kiosks and printed boarding passes? - eviltoast

At airports, I’ve always waited in line to get a printed boarding pass. Time for a change I guess.

Apparently I can check online and print my boarding pass as a pdf at home or even download the airline’s app and get a qr code to print the boarding pass at a kiosk inside the airport. Do I need an active internet connection at the airport to use the kiosk? I wont have internet there.

My airline explains they can send a pdf copy of the boarding pass to my email address. Is it really not a problem to print my boarding pass on regular office paper and not on cardboard airlines use?

If I download the airline’s app to get the qr code to print the boarding card at the kiosk, will the airline spam me with ads I don’t want?

Can I both print the boarding pass at home AND get the qr code to print the boarding pass at the kiosk?

Apparently there is something called ‘receive boarding pass by sms’. How does this work?

  • edric@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    9 months ago

    For me, the primary advantages of a mobile boarding pass are:

    • No need to get in line at the airline counter and you can go straight to security.

    • You can sneak in your carry-on or personal bag without them inspecting the size or weight. Sure, some budget airlines still check at the boarding gate, but they only usually pick out bags that are obviously too large.

    You usually have to register with an email to access your qr code on an airline’s app, so yes you will definitely be getting emails for promos and such. If you don’t want that, you can use a throwaway email when buying tickets ans registering on their app. The qr code is the boarding pass itself. So if you insist on printing a boarding pass, then just request one at the check-in counter.