Northwest Airlines has announced the launch of a paperless boarding pass, effective May 28, 2008, which will allow customers to use their mobile phones and other handheld devices to clear security and board the airplane. Northwest now offers E-Boarding Passes to customers traveling on non-stop flights from Indianapolis, Ind. to cities within the U.S. when checking in at nwa.com, using a PC or a handheld mobile device. Northwest, in cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration, plans to expand the E-Boarding Pass option to additional cities in the near future.

The E-Boarding Pass incorporates passenger travel details on an industry standard mobile barcode that is sent directly to hundreds of handheld devices and mobile phones in the form of an e-mail, WAP push/link or MMS message.

Passengers choosing E-Boarding Pass no longer require a printer or kiosk to print their boarding pass. They can receive their E-Boarding Pass on the move and proceed directly to airport security checkpoints.

“In 2007, Northwest Airlines began allowing customers to use their handheld devices to check in for their flights. Now they can take that one step further, by eliminating the need for a paper boarding pass,” said Al Lenza, vice president distribution and e-commerce.

The new E-Boarding Pass also helps Northwest Airlines in its efforts to eliminate unneeded paper waste and continue its conservation efforts. It is estimated Northwest Airlines eliminates 20 million tickets a year by going paperless for ticketing (E-Ticket). This new feature now expands the paperless concept to boarding passes.

For more information and a list of cities served directly from Indianapolis, log on to www.nwa.com/check-in/eboarding/.

Northwest is partnering with Mobiqa, a leader in 2D mobile technology, to deliver a two-dimensional mobile barcode that is able to reach a wider variety of mobile devices, providing more customers with access to the benefits of the E-Boarding Pass product. Unlike the traditional one-dimensional barcode customers are accustomed to seeing, the two-dimensional mobile barcode allows a much larger volume of travel data to be embedded in an industry standard barcode. This data is scanned by Northwest devices to provide boarding pass authentication at security checkpoints and boarding validation at the gate.
——-