TSA: How Electronic Boarding Passes Work Using Your Cell Phone or PDA

This is an except from a U.S. Goverment's "Transportation Security
Agency" (TSA) informational release. If you wondered how printing out
your own boarding pass can be secure, read on....
The electronic boarding pass pilot enables passengers to download their
boarding pass on their cell phones or personal digital assistants
(PDAs). This innovative approach streamlines the customer experience
while heightening the ability to detect fraudulent boarding passes.
Each paperless boarding pass is displayed as an encrypted
two-dimensional bar code along with passenger and flight information.
TSA security officers use hand-held scanners to validate the
authenticity of the boarding pass at the checkpoint.

Ten airports are piloting this technology: Houston George Bush
Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport (DCA), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Logan
International Airport (BOS), Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
(AUS), San Antonio International Airport (SAT), Indianapolis
International Airport (IND) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York,
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and, Cleveland Hopkins
Airport (CLE).
Once the hand-held scanners are deployed nationwide, TSA will also
use this technology to track wait times using standardized automated
data collected at checkpoints. This development is expected to happen
within about a year.

*How It Works*

[image:
http://www.tsa.gov/graphics/images/a..._boarding.jpg]
The electronic boarding pass contains a two-dimensional (2-D) barcode
encrypted with specific passenger information, such as the traveler's
name and flight information.

At the checkpoint, passengers present their cell phones or PDA to a TSA
travel document checking officer. The officer will scan the encrypted
barcode using a handheld device to verify its authenticity. Passengers
will still be required to show photo identification so officers can
validate that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the ID.

Has anyone here participated in this pilot program by showing their cell
phone or PDA to an agent? How did it go? What are your thoughts on the
matter and how it will affect things in the future?

-- Rik


--
Rik Brown
Message Origin: TRAVEL.com

Rik Brown wrote:
This is an except from a U.S. Goverment's "Transportation Security
Agency" (TSA) informational release. If you wondered how printing out
your own boarding pass can be secure, read on....
The electronic boarding pass pilot enables passengers to download their
boarding pass on their cell phones or personal digital assistants
(PDAs). This innovative approach streamlines the customer experience
while heightening the ability to detect fraudulent boarding passes.
Each paperless boarding pass is displayed as an encrypted
two-dimensional bar code along with passenger and flight information.
TSA security officers use hand-held scanners to validate the
authenticity of the boarding pass at the checkpoint.

Ten airports are piloting this technology: Houston George Bush
Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport (DCA), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Logan
International Airport (BOS), Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
(AUS), San Antonio International Airport (SAT), Indianapolis
International Airport (IND) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York,
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and, Cleveland Hopkins
Airport (CLE).
It's been operational here for quite a while in Europe. Nothing to do
with the TSA though. For example, my favorite airline:
http://www.airberlin.com/site/airber...=eng#eservices
Page down to MMS checkin.

Once the hand-held scanners are deployed nationwide, TSA will also
use this technology to track wait times using standardized automated
data collected at checkpoints. This development is expected to happen
within about a year.

*How It Works*

[image:
http://www.tsa.gov/graphics/images/a..._boarding.jpg]
The electronic boarding pass contains a two-dimensional (2-D) barcode
encrypted with specific passenger information, such as the traveler's
name and flight information.

At the checkpoint, passengers present their cell phones or PDA to a TSA
travel document checking officer. The officer will scan the encrypted
barcode using a handheld device to verify its authenticity. Passengers
will still be required to show photo identification so officers can
validate that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the ID.

Has anyone here participated in this pilot program by showing their cell
phone or PDA to an agent? How did it go? What are your thoughts on the
matter and how it will affect things in the future?

-- Rik


TSA now operates as gate agents?

"Tom P" wrote in message
...
Rik Brown wrote:
This is an except from a U.S. Goverment's "Transportation Security
Agency" (TSA) informational release. If you wondered how printing out
your own boarding pass can be secure, read on....
The electronic boarding pass pilot enables passengers to download their
boarding pass on their cell phones or personal digital assistants
(PDAs). This innovative approach streamlines the customer experience
while heightening the ability to detect fraudulent boarding passes.
Each paperless boarding pass is displayed as an encrypted
two-dimensional bar code along with passenger and flight information.
TSA security officers use hand-held scanners to validate the
authenticity of the boarding pass at the checkpoint.
Ten airports are piloting this technology: Houston George Bush
Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport (DCA), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Logan
International Airport (BOS), Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
(AUS), San Antonio International Airport (SAT), Indianapolis
International Airport (IND) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York,
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and, Cleveland Hopkins
Airport (CLE).
It's been operational here for quite a while in Europe. Nothing to do with
the TSA though. For example, my favorite airline:
http://www.airberlin.com/site/airber...=eng#eservices
Page down to MMS checkin.

Once the hand-held scanners are deployed nationwide, TSA will also
use this technology to track wait times using standardized automated
data collected at checkpoints. This development is expected to happen
within about a year.

*How It Works*

[image:
http://www.tsa.gov/graphics/images/a..._boarding.jpg] The
electronic boarding pass contains a two-dimensional (2-D) barcode
encrypted with specific passenger information, such as the traveler's
name and flight information.
At the checkpoint, passengers present their cell phones or PDA to a TSA
travel document checking officer. The officer will scan the encrypted
barcode using a handheld device to verify its authenticity. Passengers
will still be required to show photo identification so officers can
validate that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the ID.

Has anyone here participated in this pilot program by showing their cell
phone or PDA to an agent? How did it go? What are your thoughts on the
matter and how it will affect things in the future?

-- Rik


TSA now operates as gate agents?

Where does it say that?

Tom P wrote:

TSA now operates as gate agents?



"At the checkpoint, passengers present their cell phones or PDA to a TSA
travel document checking officer. The officer will scan the encrypted
barcode using a handheld device to verify its authenticity. Passengers
will still be required to show photo identification so officers can
validate that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the ID."

First three words: "at the checkpoint."

I saw more on this at InformationWeek:
Your cell phone may help you avoid the long lines at the airport this
holiday season, as American Airlines is implementing a mobile boarding
pass program at select airports.

In partnership with the Transportation Security Administration, the
airline will enable customers to receive a two-dimensional bar code on
their cell phones that will act as a boarding pass. The program is in
trial at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and will soon expand to
domestic flights from Los Angeles International and John Wayne Orange
County airports.

"Customers who choose this option can bypass printing a boarding pass
at their home, office, or even at the airport to board their plane.
They can go straight to security and then to the aircraft," said Mark
DuPont, the company's VP of airport services planning, in a statement.

To use mobile boarding passes, customers have to have an active e-mail
account and a phone that's Internet-enabled. When the customers check
in via the airline's Web site through a desktop or mobile, they will
have the option of getting a boarding pass sent to an Internet-enabled
mobile device. Once the customers are at the airport, they can proceed
directly to the security checkpoint where airport personnel can scan
their phones.

American Airlines is just the latest airline to dabble in the mobile
space, as Continental and Delta have been testing similar boarding pass
programs in cooperation with the TSA.A very interesting development. I'd really like to hear from anyone with
first-hand experience. -- Rik


--
Rik Brown
Message Origin: TRAVEL.com