A traveler by the name of William Bryson decided to see if a poster-sized boarding pass would be honored. He succeeded, and his blog has the photos to prove it. He made it through TSA — even getting some laughs — and onto his flight. He even hit the lounge. One photo is below, but check his site for the full photo timeline.

This isn’t 2011 — he actually did this over three years ago — but it’s new to me, and probably to you as well. (To put even more age on it, his boarding passes were on Northwest, which isn’t even a brand anymore…)

(Via Zug. Thanks, Andy!)

Upgraded: Spirit Airlines
Upgraded: Passenger awareness, hopefully
Yes, Spirit is upgraded! But only because their strike is on hold for the time being. If you were a passenger during the strike, it sucked. And if, at this point, you decide that you’re willing to be a Spirit customer in the future, you know where you stand with this company. You will have only yourself to blame.

Upgraded: Discount airlines in Japan
Japan’s ANA is reportedly launching a new discount airline, with fares at express bus prices.

Upgraded: Heads fly free on Southwest!
Three suspicious boxes in the cargo hold of a Southwest flight were opened by airline employees, to reveal 45 human heads. While the airline’s internal packaging policies — and best practices in packing human body parts for cross-country shipment — were violated, no laws were broken, and the heads were actually being shipped for legitimate medical purposes. Paging Matt Groening!

Upgraded: Recycling of fake boarding passes
Reader Nick sends in this story of a boarding pass that appeared in a British Airways/London Heathrow in-house magazine. What struck my eye was the fact that I had seen this boarding pass before… I had even published a copy of that boarding pass on this very site, here. Compare the pictures: Exhibit A. Exhibit B. I particularly enjoy the irony that a controversial fake boarding pass generator rises again, to be repurposed as a phony mobile boarding pass. Who says the airline industry doesn’t recycle enough?

American’s announcement brings their count of cities to 27 airports. United’s count is thirteen. Continental is still the leader, with 48 airports (including 2 overseas, in London and Frankfurt.) The TSA’s website lags reality, it seems, listing 43 airports in the US currently participate, across all airlines.

The expanded service is being pitched as a convenience to customers. And it is convenient, if you’re not able to print your passes. But be sure to save that e-mail or text message on the phone: If your miles don’t post, you’ll need to find a way to print that message to prove you actually took the flight.

This is only available at those airports where both the airlines and the TSA are linked up and able to scan the boarding pass. That’s what’s really holding this up from more widespread adoption nationwide.

Taking the convenience equation out of the picture for a moment: For you to move through security with one of those mobile boarding passes, you need to have it scanned by TSA first. What bugs me about this is the TSA’s involvement in the equation makes “revenue protection” the U.S. government agency’s job, in the name of security. (As I’ve argued ad nauseam, checking ID’s and passes does nothing to make you safer; true airport security does not hinge on holding a boarding pass or having an ID.)

This will be more and more widespread, going forward. But it’s still not truly widespread in its adoption — yet. In a reader poll back in November, 38% of readers had used a paperless boarding pass. That’s pretty high, but let’s face it, the readers of this site are highly travel-savvy, frequent-fliers. The general flying public is far less likely to have gone paperless. But not to worry, that will change.

The incident where the guy snuck through security to see his girlfriend off on a flight got me thinking: Is there a legal way for a person to go through airport security without having a boarding pass? I’m happy to submit to all manner of screenings, wandings, pat-downs, etc.

Yes, actually, there are a couple.

1. Request a gate pass from the airline
Under certain circumstances, you can obtain a gate pass, essentially a permission slip issued by an airline, which allows you to pass through security and to the gates. (Of course, you’re subject to inspection, like everyone else.) Gate passes are typically issued to parents/guardians of a minor traveling alone, to a medical assistant, to an interpreter, or to someone designated as accompanying an elderly person, usually for health reasons. And under TSA Security Directive 1544-01-10w, family of military personnel may get passes to “sterile concourse areas to escort the military passenger to the gate or to meet a military passenger’s inbound arrival at the gate.” Gate passes are free, but are issued at the airline’s discretion. Just saying you’d like to meet your friends and family? Not good enough, typically, but take your best shot!

2. Buy a refundable ticket.
Buy a fully-refundable ticket — to anywhere. Somewhere cheap, somewhere expensive, it doesn’t matter. Buy it, then check in. Print your boarding pass. Walk through security, with a perfectly legal boarding pass. Wave goodbye (or hello) to your friends from the gate. Exit the secure area of the airport. Refund the ticket, by phone or at the counter. (Remember, it was fully refundable. FULLY. But do it before the flight leaves.) It’s an annoying step, but there’s nothing illegal about it.

Richard, you asked about the legal options. So I know you’re not interested in illegal methods, like printing your own forged boarding passes. Phony passes won’t work to get you onto a plane, but they might get you through the security checkpoint. They could also get you a visit from the FBI, since they violate the U.S. code, title 18, part 1, chapter 47, § 1036. Needless to say, NOT RECOMMENDED unless you want to go to jail. But it’s been done…

Any other techniques out there? Hit the comments!

Septuagenarian comedienne Joan Rivers got stuck in Costa Rica, blaming the Continental gate agent in Costa Rica for being “an idiot, a moron,” for not letting her on the plane. In an interview with Larry King (another septuagenarian!) on CNN, Rivers implied that the name on her passport (“Rosenberg, aka Rivers”) caused her problems. And CNN ran tickers asking “Joan Rivers: A Security Threat?” Oy. But as the interview proceeds, it’s clear that the dual name on the passport was never a problem.

Rather, she had someone else’s boarding pass. Instead of “Joan,” it was “Joseph.” And when the vigilant gate agent compared the boarding pass to the passport, there was a problem.

Granted, Rivers (or Rosenberg) has a point that there were other points along the way when this could have been caught. At the check-in counter. Or at security. But if I dare use a phrase that’s gotten others into trouble of late, “the system worked.” The gate agent was there to do a final check, and she caught it. She was right to raise a flag, especially given the hypersensitive security environment we’re in.

Should Rivers have been stranded in Costa Rica? Probably not. I’m sure there is some way the airline could have handled this in a way that didn’t create a ruckus, and that verified that Joan, not Joseph, should have been traveling. But I am not privy to the details of her ticket PNR.

The bottom line, and the lesson here: Check the name on your boarding pass. Mistakes happen. And you don’t want to be caught at the gate, trying to fix it. Check the documents as soon as you receive them, and verify things immediately.

Here’s the whole insufferable interview, if you feel like torturing yourself. Masochistic? Well, alright: Around 2:19 is where she is asked about the name on the boarding pass.

This week, Continental, who has been the paperless leader in the US, expanded their rollout to San Juan, Puerto Rico. (The TSA needs to update their list of paperless-enabled airports…)

Continental also started accepting paperless passes for US-bound flights departing Frankfurt, Germany earlier this month.

In lieu of a printed boarding pass, paperless passes are sent to your mobile phone. (Standard text message rates apply…) The pass contains both a barcode and text, identifying the passenger and flight. The square barcode gets scanned twice, once at security, and once at the gate.

I haven’t had a chance to put paperless boarding to the test yet. The confluence of airlines and airports accepting the technology just hasn’t been aligned for my travels yet. But what about you?

Have you gone paperless? If so, what did you think? Have you had any problems, or are you a big fan? If you’ve had the opportunity, but haven’t done it, what’s holding you back?

Take the poll, and hit the comments!

(Reading in the feed? Can’t see the poll? Click here to visit the site to vote and/or comment.)

Upgraded: Baggage allowances on Gulf Air
This isn’t something you’ll see in North America anytime soon: Gulf Air is raising the weight limits for passengers with (complimentary!) checked baggage, effective October 1, 2009. And the increases aren’t small: +10 kg (22 lbs), in each class. That raises the total weight limits for First, Business and Economy to 50 kg, 40 kg, and 30 kg, respectively. Silver-level frequent fliers in Gulf Air’s frequent flyer program get another 15 kg; gold members get another 20 kg. Individual bags are still limited to a whopping 32kg (70 lbs) each.

Upgraded: Virgin Atlantic’s website
Sure, airline websites have been selling hotel reservations and rental cars. But now Virgin Atlantic is trying to go further by offering “add-ons” like passports and visas. Services are provided by CIBT, either via the Virgin website or call center. (Or, perhaps more accurately, centre.)

Upgraded: Paperless boarding passes at US airports
The number of airlines and airports that permit scanning boarding passes from your mobile device keeps increasing. The TSA blog compiles the who/where. Here’s the bottom line, airlines and airport codes:

Continental: IAH, DCA, EWR, BOS, AUS, SAT, CLE, LGA, LAS, SFO, ORD, LAX, SAN, FLL, TPA, PDX, PHX, CLT, MSY, RDU, MCO
Delta/Northwest: ATL, LAS, MEM, MSP, DET, SLC, CVG
Delta only: LGA
Northwest only: IND
Alaska: SEA
American: ORD, SNA, LAX

Upgraded: Punishments for abusive passengers in-flight
The FAA is increasing the size of the penalties it levies against unruly passengers, like the man who “dropped his pants and exposed himself to the female passenger sitting next to him, then punched her, according to an FBI affidavit.” Good.

Let no one ever accuse Ryanair of tasteful restraint. The Euro-discounter who refuses to rule out anything in the quest for cost savings and revenue streams has now declared that customers wishing to get a boarding pass for their flight will need to pay for it. No matter what you paid for your ticket, you’ll still have to pay more to actually use it.

Ryanair passengers face a £5 charge per flight to print out their tickets at home as part of moves to abolish check-in desks and increase revenues. The policy replaces Ryanair’s practice of offering free online ticketing and charging anyone who opted for face-to-face check-in £10.

In future, anyone who arrives at the airport without a pre-printed check-in card will have to pay a £40 “boarding card re-issue fee”. In-built restrictions to the online ticketing system mean many customers will be unable to print their tickets when they book, raising the chances for penalty charges from customers who think they have completed the process.

Ryanair says its system won’t allow customers booking more than 15 days before their flight, or within four hours of one, to check in at that time. So those who book farther in advance will have to revisit the website nearer the time of their trip to check in.

Wow.

It’s hard enough when you’re traveling and don’t have a printer nearby. (Yes, many business hotels offer boarding pass printers, but what if you’re on vacation and staying at a rental villa? Not every traveler is printer-equipped.) But now you’ll be charged a fee to do the check-in yourself, even if you have access to a printer? Amazing.

It’s actually laughable, but I’m honestly impressed at the nerve of this. They’ve taken a cost-saving measure and turned it into a source of revenue. They’re ditching check-in counters already, so the revenue from this fee comes on top of personnel and infrastructure savings. Shameless.

I think it’s high time for customers to start charging fees themselves, and submitting invoices to the airlines that nickel-and-dime their customers. Send past-due notices with late fees, while you’re at it. Could be fun. How about an ink and paper fee of fifty cents per page? Send the airline a bill! An online networking fee for the time spent on their site? Send a bill! An airline selection fee, to account for the opportunity cost of not booking with a different carrier? Send a bill!

…But good luck collecting.

(image)

Downgraded: One-Two-Go takes a vacation
The Thai discount carrier says it’s canceling flight for two months, blaming fuel prices. It’s usually all or nothing, fly or shut down. That two month time-out seems like it would kill any customers’ confidence in the viability of those tickets. Are they simply putting off the inevitable, or making a brilliant move for survival?

Upgraded: Airline revenue streams
Starting this week, Delta has started slapping advertising on some self-printed boarding passes, under an agreement with the marketing company Sojern. See a sample image below. Is it annoying? Maybe. But frankly, I can’t get worked up over this. Cranky is upset about the “demographically” targeted ads that appear on the page, but I see demographically-targeted ads on dozens of websites every day, and I’ve made my peace with those, so I’m just shrugging this one off. I’d rather see ads on boarding passes than “web convenience fees” or tray-table advertisements.

Downgraded: Skycap tips
Upgraded: Vindictiveness
American Airlines is being completely petty in their legal dispute with skycaps. You may recall that the skycaps won their suit, in which they argued that they were being cheated when the airline imposed a $2 fee, which most passengers believed to be paid to the skycap. (It was paid to the airline.) So now the airline strikes back by banning tips to skycaps. Vindictive, and frankly begging for another lawsuit.

Downgraded: Spirit Airlines’ baggage handling
Why just lose a passenger’s luggage, when you can burn the luggage instead?

Downgraded: Airline credit ratings, thanks to mergers. What?
Airlines keep saying how mergers will be just fab for their bottom lines. But credit rating agency Moodys’ predicts that airlines would be downgraded if mergers happen. Why? Moody’s doesn’t believe the merger partners will meet their goals, and won’t see the promised synergies happen.

Upgraded: WC signs
Better signage for public rest rooms than these? I haven’t seen them.

Upgraded: Paperless boarding passes
The TSA and Continental have teamed up to expand the use of paperless boarding passes for travelers with smartphones. I like!

Upgraded: Viagra, caffeine, and naps
For those seeking to beat jet lag, Viagra can help. (Seriously.) But for those not looking to channel their inner Bob Dole, caffeine and naps work well, too. How… intuitive.

Upgraded: Tracking your past travels
If you’ve traveled internationally between 1996 and 2006, and if you used an American credit or debit card abroad, you’re eligible for a refund of some undisclosed fees, thanks to a class action settlement. But unless you’re a supreme dork (umm, like me…) who has all your year-end summaries or stacks of credit card statements, you’ll need to estimate your spending. To make that work out for you, you need to know when you were out of the country. (For supreme dorks like me, there’s the running spreadsheet of flights and miles…) Debbie Dubrow of DeliciousBaby writes in with her credit card settlement hack to help you figure out how much time you were abroad: Look at your digital photos and check the dates. For pre-digital images, just browse the photo albums. Brilliant! But it’s not foolproof. My photos aren’t organized into albums. And on business travel, who takes photos??