Hi Scott and readers of the Mobile Weblog

Good news, but old news... The first commercial launch of mobile phone based check-in and boarding pass was launched by Finnair in the autumn of 2001 (initially to its frequent fliers only). It was a finalist as the best new mobile service in Finland (losing out to the just-in-time dentist application)

Since then similar systems are already in use by Lufthansa, Ryanair, Norwegian, JAL and Air Asia on at least some of their routes or to some of their customers.

Norwegian's is most complete, allowing full purchase of ticket, check-in and boarding pass via mobile phone. Finnair's - being the oldest - is predictably most used, with Finnair reporting already over 20% of its frequent fliers using the service on routes where it is available (obviously depends then on national airport authorities and regulations on when it can be implemented.)

But yes, good news, needs to spread...

Tomi Ahonen :-)
4-time bestselling author on mobile
lecturing at Oxford University
blogsite www.communities-dominate.blogs.com
website www.tomiahonen.com

Indeed Tomi, these aren't the first, but maybe perhaps the largest to try it. My point, not well made due to a rush in writing, is that as mass-market attempts, they will bump up against the old issue of convenience and ease of use - for a mass audience, will a mobile-based service be simpler than waving a piece of paper at the gate attendant? At this point, no, but one can hope...