My 6:00am flight out of Baltimore meant that I had to get up at 3:45am. This gave me 30 minutes to pack, shower, put on pants, brush my teeth, check out of my hotel, and catch the shuttle to arrive at BWI at 4:30am. Getting up at 3:45am is no fun at all. Especially when your internal clock is three hours earlier than that.
What was fun was using iPhone's Passbook...
This very cool bit of tech puts stuff like tickets, boarding passes, loyalty cards, membership accounts, and other things all at one place. Buy an Amtrak ticket? It goes to Passbook. Check in for your flight? Your boarding pass goes to Passbook. Check in at your hotel? Open up Passbook for your loyalty card.
And it's always handy.
When I arrived at the train station, my ticket was on my lock screen.
When I got to the airport, my boarding pass was on my lock screen too. One swipe, and it magically appears...
So cool. As somebody who travels a lot, this is exactly the kind of thing that makes my life easier.
The problem is that not enough companies are using it. Many airlines I fly, like Alaska Air, aren't using it. Most of the hotels I stay at, like Hilton, aren't using it. And it would be nice one day if credit cards could be added, because that would lighten my wallet considerably.
I think that Apple made the right move with Passbook because it doesn't require companies to install new equipment for NFC (or whatever)... everybody can use the scanners they already have.
It's just a question as to when (if?) these companies will return the favor and give their customers the convenience of implementing it.
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You’re right that Passbook is really useful… when it’s supported. Thus far I’ve only been able to use it for my Starbucks card and the occasional EventBrite ticket. Apple only lists 7 apps on the UK App Store that are Passbook compatible; it’s been over 6 months since iOS 6 came out so I’m surprised that adoption is still so low.
And companies like Ticketmaster only support Passbook in the US, not here.
I agree; this is a cool app. I still have to print out tickets/boarding passes for work though as the expense department needs them for some odd reason…I guess to make sure that if I charge them for a ticket, I actually took the trip.
I have yet to use my passbook, as I use the Delta app every time I fly. Perhaps I’ll give it a try! Given that I buy movie, concert, and theater tickets online as well, I’m thinking it could be useful to me if I allowed it to be.
Son of a bitch! If I’d have known you had a layover at DTW, I’d have met you up there!
It was 40 minutes… I don’t think I could have exited security in that time! 🙂
I want more companies using this, as well. For now, it’s Starbucks and Eventbrite that I use Passbook for. US Airways doesn’t have a Passbook option (at least they didn’t before I traveled 2 weeks ago)