Recognizing that travelers expect more than just cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages, most major U.S. airlines now offer mobile boarding passes at many American airports and even some abroad.
American, Delta, Continental, and United offer electronic boarding to passengers departing from over 75 U.S. airports. Alaska Airlines makes mobile passes available at almost 50 airports and US Airways at 20. JetBlue, Southwest, and Virgin America are not currently using mobile boarding.
Airlines that use mobile boarding passes list the airports where such passes are available on their websites. Smaller airports are starting to carry the necessary equipment. Upon check in passengers see the electronic boarding pass option only if it is available from their departure city and any stopover cities, if connections are being made.
Most airlines offer two ways to load an electronic boarding pass. Travelers can decide to have one sent to their mobile devices (either via email or text message) or they can use an airline app to check in and then the boarding pass will appear while in the application.
Before arriving at airport security passengers need to find the appropriate email or airline app to display the boarding pass bar code on their mobile device screen so that it can be scanned by a security agent and later at the gate.
Experienced fliers have found that it is safest to use their smart phone to take a picture of the boarding pass screen in advance so they do not have to depend on a good Internet connection to be able to show the pass on demand. www.cheapfares.com