

Boarding Pass Redesign - taylorbuley
https://medium.com/design-ux/c72084d7793e

======
jdietrich
Boarding passes are printed on thermal printers, which are exclusively
monochrome. Thermal printing is the perfect technology for ephemeral bits of
paper like boarding passes and tickets. The printers are compact, fast and
phenomenally reliable, require essentially zero maintenance and have no
consumables other than the ticket itself.

This redesign would require full bleed CMYK printing, which is none of those
things.

This is a perfect example of why business people tend to ignore designers and
regard them as jumped-up decorators. If you're going to suggest that someone
changes the way they do business, at least have the courtesy to find out why
they do things that way. If you're not trying to solve a real problem, then
you're a stylist, not a designer.

As far as airlines are concerned, boarding passes are a solved problem and
have been for decades. These supposedly simple changes would cost them
millions in equipment upgrades and reduce the reliability and throughput of
their ticketing systems, for no obvious gain.

~~~
jfarmer
Check out Timoni West's design, which takes these things into account:
[http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-
boarding-p...](http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-boarding-
pass-redesign)

Note that she wrote this in January, 2010.

~~~
eli
Sure, and it looks nice.. but it still appears to be based on guessing what
airline/airport employees do and about their concerns or constraints. How can
you know whether a design is better if you haven't even talked to the client?

------
tsmith
As a frequent flier, I neither a) have any issues with the way boarding passes
are designed currently nor b) have witnessed bewilderment in fellow passengers
due to poorly designed boarding passes.

Is this a case of design for the sake of aesthetics alone?

To any would-be boarding pass designers out there: he first thing I do with a
boarding pass I no longer need is throw it in the garbage. They are ephemeral.
Disposable. Spend your time working on something more persistant.

~~~
bonzoesc
_Is this a case of design for the sake of aesthetics alone?_

Welcome to Hacker News!

~~~
tsmith
Heh, yes.

I was going to facetiously suggest that if designers wanted to work on another
ephemeral product, they should redesign the patterns printed on TP (first
suggestion: chevrons indicating which direction to pull). Then I remembered
[http://www.getshitter.com/](http://www.getshitter.com/)

------
tptacek
Previously:

[http://passfail.squarespace.com/](http://passfail.squarespace.com/)

[http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-
boarding-p...](http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-boarding-
pass-redesign)

Within the next 10 years, boarding passes are going to be obsolete anyways.

~~~
jackschultz
In what way obsolete? Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be the "good"
kind of obsolete where you don't have to keep track of a piece of paper. The
only thing I can see now is that it turns into something of a dna/retna scan
or you need to provide something biological to fly.

~~~
tptacek
It's going to be on your phone, the way it already is for several
airlines/airports now.

~~~
monkeynotes
What if you don't own a fancy smart-phone? What if your phone's battery is
dead, or the screen smashed.

I think airports will become obsolete before paper tickets.

~~~
tptacek
Everyone is going to own a fancy smart-phone; the marginal cost of adding
"smart" to a "phone" is asymptotically approaching zero.

~~~
amirmc
That doesn't mean people will know how to _use_ them. It's easy to understand
what you do with a slip of paper (keep it with your passport, show it when
asked) vs get this app, keep phone charged, open app and bring up pass when
requested etc.

Years ago people were proselytising about the paperless office and we still
don't have that. We're not going to have paperless airports any time soon.

~~~
tptacek
People in Kenya are better at taking advantage of phones than we are; the
M-Pesa system is much more widespread than Square is here. People know how to
use mobile tech just fine. There will still be boarding passes, but in 10
years, most people are just going to use their phones.

------
kalleboo
Why can't we change the size as well? All the "boarding pass redesigns" I see
are still impractically large.

When you fly domestic in Japan, you get a passport-sized ticket. Also, the
boarding pass text itself is 100% for your eyes only, any agent will just scan
the QR code to verify it in their computer/security/the gate.

[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7479125670_41c5c95e31_b.j...](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7479125670_41c5c95e31_b.jpg)

[http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6623056045_f9409ac300_b.j...](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6623056045_f9409ac300_b.jpg)

Receipt paper boarding passes are quite common now, they fit easily in your
wallet or wherever
[http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6169/6195235898_80072f2858_b.j...](http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6169/6195235898_80072f2858_b.jpg)

~~~
jevinskie
It does seem like a fantastic idea to choose a standard size like a passport.
Many people have passport wallets / holders. I can imagine a thin plastic
credit card sized token in the future that will display the relevant
information on your phone when it is near.

~~~
ewang1
But if you already have the phone with you, might as well use the phone itself
instead of adding another card.

Although the e-ink re-usable baggage tag British Airways is working on seems
cool.... You could have something similar to replace paper boarding passes.

------
asolove
This may or may not be good, but I stopped reading as soon as I saw the labels
"Your flight" and "Passenger name" right next to each other. Writing is
design, too.

~~~
thurn
I'm not sure I understand your criticism here, care to elaborate?

~~~
stevejohnson
I think he means if it says "your flight" it could also say "your name."

~~~
ygra
Those sections are for different readers, though. And at least I rarely need
to be told my name in case I forgot.

~~~
marcins
If you haven't needed reminding of what your name is then you haven't been
properly jetlagged ;)

------
zwischenzug
Surely the design is the easy bit? Boarding passes operate in a highly
regulated and legacy-technology _and_ heterogenous environment
(technologically, culturally, legally, and in terms of corporations involved).
Overcoming all those challenges to gain agreement is the hard bit.

~~~
potatolicious
I'd be more concerned about cost. With the advent of self-checkin boarding
passes have become largely homogenized - boarding passes used to actually be
printed by the airline, on their own paper stock, instead of the airport
authority's touch terminals.

This isn't an environment where the airlines have a great deal of control over
what gets printed, or the printers doing the printing. Going from the
_extremely_ cheap thermal paper printers I see in these machines to full-
color, thick card stock (like it was in the Good Old Days) would be pretty
darned expensive.

Unfortunately the airline industry today is hyper-competitive to the point
where anything that does not generate higher bookings and higher sales is
basically just all cost and no benefit. Unless these easier-to-use boarding
passes results in more bookings, it just doesn't make financial sense for the
airlines, who are cash-strapped as it is without being tasked with replacing
tens of thousands of printers.

~~~
chx
Actually, if the rear / aisle iconography yields faster boarding then the time
saved standing on the ground might be worth it. Airlines spend tens of
millions on researching faster boarding processes.

------
eli
I don't see how I'm supposed to take these designs seriously when they're
based on _guessing_ what the core constituencies need and what their
constraints are. It's easy to make something look prettier, but I have no idea
if this better serves TSA agents, counter agents, gate agents--let alone the
airline's bottom line. How much does it cost to print this ticket compared to
the old one? How long does it take? Will I need new printers? Do the barcode
readers need to be reprogrammed?

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bwh2
A few small things:

    
    
      * No AM/PM on times
      * No ticket number or confirmation code
      * Would a barcode scanner run into problems with two barcodes side by side?
      * Listing the terminal without labeling it may cause confusion

~~~
dmckeon
23:59 as the default format for times, for clarity, and the rest of the world.
Show both formats for departures.

~~~
ape4
Might not hurt to put "AM" after times before noon.

~~~
tacticus
Is 17:42 not clear that it is after 12:00?

~~~
gergles
Is 07:44 clear whether they actually mean 07:44 or 19:44?

~~~
miahi
For me it's very clear. The approximate list of countries that use AM/PM[1] is
short.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#Computer_support](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#Computer_support)

------
ben1040
What purpose does the little "stub" serve in the year 2013, anyway, other than
to make the boarding pass easily mangled?

There was that time in the not that distant past when the gate agent's pass
reader was this giant console that would slurp in your boarding card --
printed on real card stock with a magstripe on the back -- and would register
your name, then eject that stub from a slot in the top for you to take on your
way to the jetbridge door.

Not since those machines were retired (I haven't encountered one in five or
six years) have I had any airline employee tear off the stub. Why can't they
do away with that?

~~~
rogerbinns
You need the stub for seat assignment once on the plane as it is far more
convenient. It is also used on some stopovers - for example SQ1 stops in HKG
on the way to SIN. All passengers have to leave the plane while it is
refueled, and you have to keep the stub with you to get back on again.

~~~
ianstormtaylor
If all airlines would just go the way of Southwest you wouldn't need it for
seat assignments. I haven't been forced to hold on to a stub for a while now.

But from a higher-level thinking point of view, neither of the requirements
you mention mean a _stub_ is necessary. I know this is a little nitpicky, but
e need to step back from things like this to realize that the entire premise
of a stub is only _required_ because of previous decisions in the system.

The only things the user _actually_ needs is (1) a way to find a seat, and (2)
a way to verify their identity to agents. The stub happened to satisfy those
requirements, but they could easily be solved in different ways (like
Southwest has done).

That's the biggest problem with this entire article, it's only thinking about
the last step of design decisions, so it's not going to come up with very
innovative results.

~~~
rogerbinns
The stub is really only needed to find your seat. It is far easier to deal
with than people having to dig out phones, works for all passengers and
countries etc. Whenever I am on a plane several passengers end up in the wrong
seats and the stubs are used to resolve the issue quickly.

On the identity side you already have to travel with identification and that
can be used a lot of the time. Things can get complicated (eg being rebooked
by another airline), lots of queues, many flights leaving at similar times
where the stubs are helpful because people can be helped and processed a lot
quicker. The stub is something that can be consistent between passengers
whereas passports, drivers licenses and other forms of identification are all
over the place.

~~~
kaybe
They also put the baggage stickers on that during check-in, which means
keeping the stub is keeping your baggage stickers. And you'll need those in
case of lost luggage.

------
lyndonh
What a waste of time. Boarding passes are not designed the way they are to be
helpful to the passenger!

If you put the seat diagram or the boarding priority on the pass, people will
demand those things. The airline needs to be able to shift you around.
Actually printing Economy instead of Y will cheapen the experience.

Finally, it won't help the airlines/airport squeeze you for more in-flight
purchases. Let's face it, the whole flying experience is designed around
selling you extra stuff.

------
alex-g
It would be handy for me if the little stub had some more information: when
the plane is scheduled to land. When I have connecting flights there's usually
a point when I'm in the air thinking about whether I have time to do such-and-
such before I have to board the next flight, and I can never remember when the
arrival time is meant to be. It would be nice not to have to look this up on
my phone or in my own notes.

In the same way, there could even be information like "You have 48 minutes
before your next flight (BA55)" or "You need to change to Terminal C for your
connection".

~~~
sheri
At the very least, they should give the connecting gate number, and if
possible instructions to get there and to walk to the gate. I presume they
don't do this since the gates are subject to change, so printing this up front
could mislead someone.

To me, I shouldn't really need a physical boarding pass. They should just be
able to scan an ID and inform me the gate number during boarding.

------
sjwright
Qantas membership cards now have integrated RFID tags which can be used in
place of a paper boarding pass to drop baggage and alight the plane. The only
requirement is that you must check in online within 24 hours of your flight.

In fact, the bag drop is particularly clever. Qantas give their frequent
flyers robust bag tags with integrated RFID chips, so at the airport you just
scan your card and drop your bag. If you don't have a bag tag, it prints you a
"classic" adhesive tag -- with an embedded RFID chip!

I think the paper ticket's days are numbered.

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gcb0
yeah, pretty, but useless.

What was the last time you knew where to look for "gate"? or "seat"?

making the numbers bigger only help the people handling tons of those per day.
Look at that corner, see Gate number. ok, right one. pass.

For the passenger who fly once a month or less, each time in a different
company, you scramble the ticket looking for the word "gate" first, which is
smallest print in all of them. But "12A" or whatever the gate is, is huge. as
"23C", which is your seat, but you don't know that. because the labels are all
tiny.

typical case of not thinking about the problem and just making things cuter.
Would never call those photoshop pilots designers. Also, color printers for
boarding passes? not even virgin has that! another show of zero research.

that's why you think before you draw something.

------
rflrob
> The other thing I would love to include is a halfway fold… I bet you have
> had this happen — You stick your boarding pass in your pocket, take it out
> at the gate and the stub is hanging off. You reached peak perforation too
> soon!

Why does your airline ticket need to be perforated at all? In the bad old
days, the airline would keep one half and you'd keep the other, but I don't
remember the last time I flew somewhere and they didn't scan my ticket either
visually or with a magstripe.

~~~
X-Cubed
They still need it when they need to do a manual boarding. It's not very
common, but if the computers are down and they still need to get people on the
plane they'll collect the stubs and check people off on a clipboard.

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evadne
Uh, I just take whatever they print out, stick it in the wallet, and make sure
the itinerary is sent to TripIt which works with FlightTrack Pro [1] and
Flight+ [2], which will both let me know about the gates…

[1] [http://www.mobiata.com/apps/flighttrackpro-
iphone](http://www.mobiata.com/apps/flighttrackpro-iphone) [2] [http://flight-
plus.com/](http://flight-plus.com/)

------
taopao
Sure, it's prettier, but still way too much information.

Anybody that's handling the pass prior to boarding surely has access to a
computer system. Why not devote 80% of the entire pass for the passenger's
benefit, and just have a small scannable code for the bureaucrats?

Also, the seat diagram is pretty ambiguous and not useful for a plane with
multiple aisles. I think a plane specific cross-section of the row would be
more useful.

------
kd5bjo
Southwest's boarding passes used to be a plastic card with a number on it.
When you got to the gate, they check you in and give you the next card. People
board in order, and the cards are collected as you get on the plane to be
given to the next set of outgoing passengers.

The system worked quite well, but airport security rules changed to require
checkin be outside the checkpoint.

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bernatfp
I wouldn't care to redesign the paper boarding pass. It will be killed in
<5yr.

You better design a good mobile e-ticket with something more than a damn QR
code, which is what I mostly find with the airlines I fly... At the moment the
only acceptable solution I've found is the one provided by Passbook,

------
vbl
I have this nagging urge to take a step back and examine the necessity for a
piece of paper in the first place.

~~~
chx
Actually, a piece of paper is great because I do not need to awkwardly unlock
my screen to get the boarding pass display; I do not need to worry about an
accidental key press switching to somewhere else; if an official needs to
actually handle the boarding pass I can hand it over; if the airline rep needs
it to change my flight they can do it without having a scanner on every
computer. The list is endless.

~~~
computer
Also, consider the fact that you have to show the TSA your boarding pass. If
you have to unlock your phone for that, they get full access to copy all your
data if they decide you look like a terrorist.

Likely not a consideration for most people who don't mind privacy stuff, of
course.

~~~
ewang1
Apple's Passbook works from the lock screen without having to unlock the phone
itself. The pass shows up when your within close proximity to the airport.

------
brianbreslin
Is this a moot point with the advent of digital boarding passes? I use my
iphone whenever possible.

~~~
joezydeco
My company just changed their expense policy where we need to keep the
boarding cards as part of the expense receipt process.

Unfortunately, paper passes will need to be around a bit longer.

~~~
imsofuture
What possible argument is there for that? I guess you can't fly Southwest
either, since they take your boarding pass outright.

~~~
joezydeco
It's a big mess. Apparently someone high up in the company abused the travel
expense policy, buying refundable tickets and cashing them in somehow while
still getting reimbursed. It's a huge mess and the accounting department has
gone from super-lax to draconian.

------
nphase
Interesting concept.. might want to highlight the destination a bit more
prominently. When carrying multiple boarding passes, prominently displaying
departure point and destination will make it easier to make sure you have the
wrong one out at time of boarding..

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jamesdelaneyie
So many redesigns of boarding passes. So very pointless apart from being nice
practices in information hierarchy. There is a weird kind of prestige attached
to them, I think that's why designers love doing them. Makes you feel
important.

------
gurraman
I liked this one:

[http://www.graphicology.com/blog/2010/1/11/280-a-practical-y...](http://www.graphicology.com/blog/2010/1/11/280-a-practical-
yet-human-boarding-pass-design.html)

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justjimmy
The icon for aisle seat looks like a stack of people sitting on each other's
lap. No need to clutter the pass with new icons (that user will need to learn
to identify and understand) when the word 'Aisle' is sufficient enough.

------
gggggggg
I get bording passes sms-ed to me. They only have basic info, but its all
there. Then on bording they issue a paper one that you carry to your seat.
Works well, but for non frequent users it can be slow.

------
schappim
Nice redesign! I particularly like the Qantas mockup. Pity that Qantas don't
actually fly from San Francisco to Sydney direct anymore :(

------
marban
_" You don’t need to know your seat number until you are on the plane"_

Maybe on a hydroplane.

------
walls
What's the point of leaving the name on there twice?

