Airline passengers flying between Munich and Hanover,
Germany, for this week’s CeBIT trade show will be able to use their
mobile phones to check in and board their flights.
Domestic airline DBA has teamed up with mobile operator T-Mobile
to run the scheme, which is expected to be extended to other routes
later this year.
Any passenger with a phone that can handle MMS (Multimedia
Messaging Service) messages can use the system.
Registered users for the Munich-Hanover service will receive
their boarding card on their phones around three hours before
take-off, in the form of a 2D bar code.
To check in and later board their plane, they simply wave their
phone display with the 2D bar code in front of a contact-less
scanner.
Vodafone is expected to launch a mobile phone contact-less
ticketing system next month that will enable users to ride on
Frankfurt’s public transport system.
Vodafone’s system, which will be demonstrated at CeBIT, will see
Frankfurt users also wave their phone near contact-less scanners
which will log their rides on buses and trains.
At the end of the month, users will be charged for the total
number of rides they have made.