Southwest Airlines Updates iOS App, Enables Mobile Boarding Pass Feature at 28 Airports

MacRumors · May 21, 2014

Southwest Airlines has updated its official iOS app to include mobile boarding pass support at 28 total airports following a rollout of the feature in Austin, Texas last year. In addition to expanded mobile boarding pass support, the app also now includes upcoming trip cards that contain flight infomation such as boarding position and gate location, as well as access to flight tools like mobile check-in from the home screen.

Airports that now support Southwest Airlines' mobile boarding pass feature include:

- Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ)
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)
- Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI)
- Nashville International Airport (BNA)
- Bob Hope Airport (BUR)
- Dallas Love Field (DAL)
- Denver International Airport (DEN)
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
- William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
- McCarran International Airport (LAS)
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- Kansas City International Airport (MCI)
- Orlando International Airport (MCO)
- Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
- General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
- Oakland International Airport (OAK)
- Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
- Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW)
- San Diego International Airport (SAN)
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
- San Jose International Airport (SJC)
- Sacramento International Airport (SMF)
- John Wayne Airport (SNA)
- Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL)
- Tampa International Airport (TPA)

The official app of Southwest Airlines saw its last major update in November, which brought a new unified actions sidebar and airport information content pages in addition to initial mobile boarding pass support.

Southwest Airlines is a free app for iOS devices and can be downloaded through the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Southwest Airlines Updates iOS App, Enables Mobile Boarding Pass Feature at 28 Airports

trtmn · May 21, 2014

Finally! I flew Delta not to long ago and the whole process was so much smoother because of this (even if I did have to fly to Atlanta to get to the West coast!)

scott523 · May 21, 2014

Impeccable timing for my flight at the end of this month!

chakdey · May 21, 2014

need more airports

JoeG4 · May 21, 2014

lol nice. I just flew southwest today.

Keane16 · May 21, 2014

trtmn said:
Finally! I flew Delta not to long ago and the whole process was so much smoother because of this (even if I did have to fly to Atlanta to get to the West coast!)

Completely agree.

I flew easyJet from the UK to Denmark earlier this year and they recently introduced this functionality. I have to say the implementation, the ease of use, the efficiency etc. was just incredible. From buying the tickets, to checking in, to boarding. Superb. It felt like the future, but it was in the present.

http://www.easyjet.com/en/mobile/mobile-boarding-passes

alent1234 · May 21, 2014

Does it work if you have more than one person on the Itinerary

2457282 · May 21, 2014

I usually fly united and I have had this feature in their app for over a year. And it integrates into the passbook. Seems that southwest is a bit behind rolling this out.

mainstreetmark · May 21, 2014

Will it support this "Passbook" technology I keep hearing about but have never seen?

Pheo · May 21, 2014

Is this really front page news? On a mobile client the article is taking up lots of space. And I live in the UK

Craiger · May 21, 2014

Pheo said:
Is this really front page news? On a mobile client the article is taking up lots of space. And I live in the UK

I imagine it took you longer to complain about this than it would have to just scroll past it.

lolkthxbai · May 21, 2014

mainstreetmark said:
Will it support this "Passbook" technology I keep hearing about but have never seen?

Nope. Doesn't mention passbook anywhere. A shame since it's really simple to integrate and they are already using the correct barcodes.

----------

Pheo said:
Is this really front page news? On a mobile client the article is taking up lots of space. And I live in the UK

It's not, it's under ios blog but on mobile it shows you all the articles.

Craiger · May 21, 2014

alent1234 said:
Does it work if you have more than one person on the Itinerary

My GF has my companion pass and I cannot figure out how to see her confirmation on the app so I am thinking the answer is no. This means I would still have to print her boarding pass.

campingsk8er · May 21, 2014

Just in time for my flight in 10 days

Keane16 · May 21, 2014

mainstreetmark said:
Will it support this "Passbook" technology I keep hearing about but have never seen?

lolkthxbai said:
Nope. Doesn't mention passbook anywhere. A shame since it's really simple to integrate and they are already using the correct barcodes.

That's poor by Southwest. The easyJet app I mentioned above is nicely integrated into Passbook - the boarding pass popped up as soon as you got near the airport.

Maybe in a future update?

arefbe · May 21, 2014

chakdey said:
need more airports

Really! Bob Hope Airport, but not Salt Lake City?!

iTim314 · May 21, 2014

Hooray! Nashville International!

Narrator Jack · May 21, 2014

[redacted]

cdavis11 · May 21, 2014

I used it not too long ago at Chicago Midway.

No, it doesn't support passbook. It can do a couple of things, one of which I thought was kinda weird.

You can access the boarding pass from within the app, or save the boarding pass to your camera roll and grab it from there.

I chose the camera roll option and it worked just fine.

I usually fly southwest or united. United has a very nice app with passbook integration, but honestly passbook might save a fraction of a second vs. the camera roll. Not that big a deal when you're dealing with TSA and everything else that goes on in airports these days.

Stridder44 · May 21, 2014

Finally!

I love SouthWest but their App has always been a huge disappointment (mainly due to lack of features and being so outdated). As someone who flys frequently with them, this is awesome news.

ToomeyND · May 21, 2014

Craiger said:
My GF has my companion pass and I cannot figure out how to see her confirmation on the app so I am thinking the answer is no. This means I would still have to print her boarding pass.

This is unfortunately the worst scenario to answer the question. The companion pass is always on a separate confirmation number. This means alway having to look them u p separately (my biggest peeve about southwest). Have your girlfriend download the app and pull up her own boarding pass.

I don't think the companion pass should be used as the example to answer the question about multiple people. Southwest does everything they can to make that particular pass not user friendly. I love it dearly, and fly southwest because of it, but they don't streamline it.

Edit: flying out of Oakland tomorrow. I'm looking forward to finally having this tech.

ptb42 · May 21, 2014

cdavis11 said:
United has a very nice app with passbook integration, but honestly passbook might save a fraction of a second vs. the camera roll. Not that big a deal when you're dealing with TSA and everything else that goes on in airports these days.

Passbook integration is nice if you have a passcode or Touch ID on your phone. It puts an indicator on your lock screen, which you can slide to bring up the boarding pass without unlocking the phone.

aarond12 · May 21, 2014

Anyone else "read" the content of the QR code on the boarding pass graphic? Heh... this is what it says:

"Aztec Code is a public domain 2D matrix barcode symbology of nominally square symbols built on a square grid with a distinctive square bullseye pattern at their center."

Bummer. I was expecting to see something more interesting.

John.B · May 21, 2014

A long time in coming. Disappointing that they didn't bother to add the boarding pass barcode to Passbook after they went to all the trouble to build an app. Probably not many iOS users in the team working up the app's requirements...

larrylaffer · May 21, 2014

Woohoo! Thanks Bob Hope Airport!

Southwest Airlines Updates iOS App, Enables Mobile Boarding Pass Feature at 28 Airports

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