Continental Letting Flyers Use Cell Phones As Plane Tickets

I think it is a good idea. Yeah if you leave phone at home or loose it, what do you do? You get a calling booth and also can go to counter to get a new ticket stub. Also people doubting that some one can fly on your ticket, well it is still true with paper ticket. Only security screening is where you need ID and that is identification will be done. I am sure the scanning devices get the name from the ticket and TSA will then check your ID to verify. I think it is just another form of ticket, but totally replacing the paper with phone is obviously a bad idea for various reasons. Anyhow, these are my views and I beleive everybody have their own point of view about things.

I THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA,NO ONLY THING THEY HALF TO DO IS SOMETHING ABOUT DELAYS ON THE TARMAC AND THE PROBLEM WITH LOST LUGGAGE.....SAFE FLYING IN THE HOLIDAY SEASON

Imagine that! Now I can have a bar-code sent to a cell-phone. My question is how does one control handing that cell-phone to someone else who now boards in my place? At least with a paper pass, a Jill Jones is (hopefully) unlikely to be mistaken for a Bill Smith - not so with a bar-code on a tiny screen. Futhermore simply the handling of the paper requires a bit of time, possibly that amount of time it might take an alert airline employee to spot something not-quite-right.

Airport Security in the US is already almost an international joke. This is one more potential avenue for abuse or error.

Bad idea. What if you lose your cell phone at the airport, or leave it at the house, but you do have your boarding pass? Or, say you're one of the very few people out there that DON'T have one. Or if you're a kid without a cell phone, but you need a boarding pass?

GENIUS! but what happens when your phone dies? And how does security sign your phone, so the person on the other side of the scanner can verify that you have already had your I.D. checked.

Still sounds like a lot of problems.

I agree TOTALLY...forget about all this fancy hi-tech SHI* and worry about flights being ON TIME without LOST LUGGAGE!!!!!!!!

What if your phone doesn't work in the area where you will be traveling to? How do you get back home without a back up plan (i.e. paper ticket)? Will the employees at the check point also have scanners to make sure your ID matches your cell phone's bar code info? Great for the environment, great for time's sake, but not sure about security...

What if your phone goes dead? Airports allow vendors to make you pay to plug your phone charger in. They need to provide more electrical sockets so that we can stay charged up without charging us to use them!!!

Nordic has a great question. Maybe the scanners somehow imprint a signature, so the next official/agent can confirm it has been signed. Of course, theyll always check your id, as they do now. And if you lose your cell phone (to Tiffiny) you can still print out a pass at the airport (like you can do now). Its just another option (like we have now - paper ticket vs. e-ticket).

There are MANY foreign travelers as well as Americans traveling OUTSIDE the US that do not always carry their cell phone with them.

Wake up- the entire flying population does not travel between NY and Miami or Chicago and LA.

BAD IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what about people who don't have the hi-tech phones that are able to receive barcodes? it's a ridiculous idea-talk about the unnecessary mis-use of technology...if only people would use their technological abilities for better innovations!

Most people have to pay to receive messages! So while we save the Airlines some money by not printing a boarding pass at the airport, we would be adding to our cell phone bills! This is not at all a fool-proof or a secured idea!!!

This just allows more access to personal information and abuse- and maybe there wouldn't be so many delays if there wasn't so much BS about security. Seriously, NOTHING the TSA does really helps or makes travelers safer. How many harrassment and theft charges have there been? And does anybody remember the annual reports which show the TSA is not only a detriment to travel, but lowers the esteem of our country in the eyes of other nations? Every year the reports get worse, not better.

Is it me, or don't you feel that the security works against us rather than actually helps keep us safe? Let's face it, the focus of the TSA is on turning Travelers into cattle, not people. If they were really doing their job, they'd be screening the airport and related companies and the people they hire, as well as the equipment being used.

I think it is a ridiculous idea. Much of our population is turning 70 or over years of age. Many do no use cell phones, including myself. What happens to them?

Just what we need! Another way to put employees out of work. Good work, Continental! Way to help the economy

Why it does sound like a good idea, we have to consider the cell phone itself right? I can see it done with high powered phones like the blackberry, ect, what about one of the free phones you recieve that aren't powerful and equiped. I agree with the comments about cell bills, losing the phone, ect and messages don't come through easily especially at the airport when my phone loses a signal. They make you turn them off on the plane and some people forget to turn them back on. Boading lines can be slower if people have to turn them on and load the pass. I think we are still need more technology to make this a sucess. I am sticking to paper passes and paper ballots!

To all the people that think this is such a bad idea, why don't you give it a chance? It's not like the airline is saying that they are completely doing away with paper tickets and if you don't have a cell phone you can't travel on their airline. They are experimenting with a new technology that I guarantee you many business travellers (including myself) would love, not to mention it would be better for our environment. If your cell phone dies or you lose it, you can always print out a new paper boarding pass at the airport. I promise it wouldn't be the end of the world. Stop being so afraid of technology.

i agree with nathan. give it a try!!!
how many people were uncomfortable with no actual ticket to get on a plane?
now, you wouldn't think of having a paper ticket.
give it a chance to see how and if it works.

Will pay top dollar$ for phones.......