

Rethink the airline boarding pass (accepting limitations) - robhawkes
http://petesmart.co.uk/rethink-the-airline-boarding-pass/

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maxsilver
I think this redesign _looks_ very nice, and I'd love to have this on my next
flight.

But the redesign ignores a lot of the reality of actually using boarding
passes. For example:

\- These boarding passes contain a lot of info that the Airline doesn't
actually know for many flights. (Terminal and Gate numbers aren't available
for a lot of flights at the time the boarding pass is printed). Those fields
will be blank, which won't help you "navigate the airport labyrinth".

\- The barcode on this boarding pass is very small, much smaller than the
other passes photographed. This will likely make it harder to scan (especially
since these gates are often re-used, the glass on the scanners is often
dirty/scratched). Difficulty scanning these could slowly lead to increased
frustration with flight attendants who have to scan a couple thousand of
these, by hand, every single day.

\- Color. Your boarding pass has it. Normal ones (often) don't. Even the
passes you photographed are missing color printing. So these nice weather
icons aren't going to look nearly as nice if you are truly adding "no new
printers", as the page describes.

Again, I love the idea. But I think the design would be better served by a
more careful observation of airports and air travel.

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basseq
Again. It's like people have Photoshop/Illustrator and Helvetica and get an
itch to either redesign boarding passes or Craigslist.

Pretty and some good thoughts (like the passport integration, though not
relevant for domestic U.S. flights), but the same limitations always pop up
(carrier independence, legacy printer hardware, etc.).

Apparently smartphone ticketing doesn't exist in the EU, yet, though. I can't
remember the last time I had a paper ticket.

