Paperless Planes

Mobile computing seems like a straightforward proposition – increased access to the Internet regardless of location opens possibilities for greater innovation.  A recent trip to the airport gave me an opportunity to reflect on the “state of the union,” at least in terms of traveling.

Most people are now quite familiar with checking in on line, and using airline sites to check flight status, sign up for a frequent flyer account, etc.  In fact, most people are familiar with services like United’s EasyUpdate, and other services which will notify you about your flight status as changes occur.

But it doesn’t take long for the boundaries to become clear. Should drivers have unfettered access to watch YouTube videos while driving, or to email/text to friends/colleagues (yes, the emails don’t stop, even when you are driving)? Should texting, calls or web browsing be allowed to interrupt our normal undivided attention during conversations? OK, I’m kidding about that last one.   Clearly, there should be some boundaries, for our own saftey, and our own good.  I recently went to a networking session where everyone was staring at their computer, chatting through a popular communication channel, and rarely interacted.  Left to our own devices, we might never realize the people we want to meet are right next to us.

But back to the trip: when I checked in for my flight, I was offered the option of “Mobile Boarding Pass” – instead of using toner and paper (and my attention to remember where I put it), I received a link to my boarding pass via my mobile phone.  Knowing I was going to avoid checking anything (now that you

Mobile Boarding Pass

pay a hefty price to do so), I could skip immediately to the security line.  Although it didn’t save much time, the airline saved a few extra minutes of kiosk or CSR time.  As I passed those kiosks (slowly in the TSA’s fun walk), I had a chance to think back to the days when paper tickets were required (sometimes lost or left at the hotel accidentally), and the lines for check in were often gut-wrenchingly horrible.  Not so now – the airlines industry’s disintermediation campaign has transformed it in many ways.

At the boarding area, the normally mind-numbing wait was made shorter by checking email, listening to music, or even reading a newspaper.  That’s a big innovation in my book, as is the ability to take a movie or TV show on the plane with you; it wasn’t so long ago that a common travel question people would ask was “Did you get a movie on your flight?”  Usually followed with a “Aww.  Too bad.”  Not so any longer – and what’s more, recently, as opposed to being stuck if you forgot to buy a movie before the flight, more options for inflight wifi are popping up.

For me, this was the first flight on this carrier on which WiFi was offered; even more interestingly, the company offering the service, GoGo, had a representative (very friendly) at the gate, eyeing likely users and handing out flyers.  Tip of the hat to them – the right use of the human touch can

make the difference between getting some0ne’s attention, or not.

Not too crazy about them adopting the hotel model of pricing – $10 per flight is pretty steep.  But as with most things, hopefully adoption, innovation, and competition will drive prices down.   Of course, for a frequent flier, $30 in a month might amount to a couple bucks a flight.

There’s still a certain amount of discomfort that goes with having 100 or so people potentially looking over your shoulder while you work, but most people seem to have adjusted to this idea (after all, there’s nothing stopping you turning right around and glancing when you pass them…).

There’s no doubt that mobile computing, like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack, is going to push into lots of places it wasn’t welcome even just a short time ago.

And while mostly it will be for the good, two things are clear – there’s more change around the corner (companies trying to seek new revenue streams, like GoGo, and others trying to reduce cost, like the airlines, will ensure that) and there are many, many issues still to work out.  Can the pilot read my tweets about the turbulence while he’s flying?