The Future of Airline Check-in: Cellphone-as-Ticket Technology

In a recent move that could save the airline industry half a billion dollars annually, the International Air Transport Association announced that it has successfully coaxed all of its 240 constituent airlines to move forward with “cellphone-as-ticket” technology.

The International Herald Tribune is reporting that:

The formats permit a passenger to register a phone during booking to receive a text message containing a bar code that becomes a boarding pass. The bar code can then be read directly from the phone’s screen.

If this is half as convenient as it sounds, travelers are looking at lightning fast check-ins at the airport. Not to mention, it’s Minority Report cool!