Sep
25
Air Canada & the 2D Bar Code
Filed Under Advertising, Digital Signage, Mobile
Interesting little post from BlackBerryCool last week promoting Air Canada’s
new mobile/SMS 2D BARCODE boarding pass.
The report says:
Not only BlackBerrys, but PDAs, Treos, and standard mobile phones which can display a 2D barcode will now be able to have their Air Canada boarding passes on their handhelds.
Air Canada said the mobile-check in service, which is available at www.mobile.aircanada.com, has been improved to enable customers to receive an electronic boarding pass in SMS form, which can be shown to airport security screen staff and Air Canada gate agents, rather than a paper board pass. … According to the airline, the mobile boarding pass uses recent, secure mobile and 2-D barcode technologies to help simplify the travel experience for its customers. The customer enters information such as their name, departure city and their Aeroplan number, booking reference or credit card number and then enters their mobile number to receive the pass if their device supports 2-D barcode technology.
This type of solution has been a long time coming to date because :
- The technology on the phones isn’t as up to date as you would want
- Not enough scanners can read 2D barcodes off North American phones
- The security inside traditional SMS is only A4 encryption which has been hacked before
I used to be in the software development business and was working with a Canadian bank trying to get them to adopt secure alerts and redemption (with BarCode) and there were just too many limitations/failure points. Lots has changed since I was doing that 4-5 years ago and the technology is starting to mature.
What excites me about this development is the potential long term promotional and sales opportunities in the major airports coupled with Digital Signage. If every Air Canada gateway has some sort of scanner to read SMS barcodes, it opens up a wack of possibilities for additional vendors in on-premise (at the point of departure) and point of arrival sales.
E.g. you could actually promote sales in Duty Free or at on location restaurants or promote tourism, hotels or limo services while consumers wait at the lounges and execute the final transaction via barcode after you’ve been engaged by a “Text 2 Screen” program.
It also could be used onboard the planes for account based transactions (e.g. no more stumbling for change when you want those dry unsalted peanuts.) by scanning an Air Canada account on a phone which is linked to a credit card. All you would need is a fingerscanner!
That way we could get beyond the generic, value-deficient content that existed at least as early as last Feb in some of our airports and add more value to the patrons while they wait- See here and Dave Hayne’s comment on what COULD be below the post
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4 Responses to “Air Canada & the 2D Bar Code”
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[...] Rob Gorrie wrote a fantastic post today on “Air Canada & the 2D Bar Code”Here’s ONLY a quick extract… staff and Air Canada gate agents, rather than a paper board pass. … According to the airline, the mobile boarding pass uses recent, secure mobile and 2-D barcode technologies to help simplify the travel experience for its customers. … [...]
[...] see: http://www.robgorrie.com/2007/09/25/air-canada-the-2d-bar-code/ and update your bookmarks [...]
I have been visiting this site a lot lately, so i thought it is a good idea to show my appreciation with a comment.
Thanks,
Jim Mirkalami
Does anyone know what company is providing the enabling technology for AC digital passes?