By Ewan MacLeod in boarding pass — Jul 19, 2010

British Airways Mobile Apps are looking very smart

I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with the new British Airways mobile applications. Of course, I haven’t used them in anger yet, but I am very much looking forward to doing so.

Like most companies getting involved in the mobile platform, British Airways recognise the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android platforms. Nokia is persona non grata at this time.

The British Airways app lets you access your current and upcoming flight details, check-in and discover flight information, timetables and so on. Plus if you’re an Executive Club member (Oh yes) then you’ll be able to check out your account details.

If you’ve got an iPhone though, it’s even better news though — the iPhone app has been equipped with the mobile boarding pass functionality. Instead of printing out the flimsy bit of paper at check-in, you simply check-in via the app and then, ‘your boarding pass will be downloaded to your iPhone’.

Now I don’t know precisely how that works yet as I’ve not experienced it. It would be highly convenient if the boarding pass was generated as a PNG or JPG and stored locally within the application’s database once you’ve checked-in, so that you don’t have to rely on patch data signal in the airport to take five minutes to call up the boarding pass. I’m sure that’s how they’ve deployed it.

Here’s what it looks like:

A trillion times better than those flimsy boarding passes you have to print out when you check-in at the airport.

Right now you can only use the mobile boarding pass between London Heathrow and Edinburgh (and vice versa). I imagine this is to give staff (and the system) the opportunity to work out the kinks before deploying to wider locations.

It makes SO much sense though. SO much sense. You always have your phone with you. And if you’re a frequent flyer from London to Edinburgh, this will make your life just a tiny bit nicer.

There is nothing worse than having to fumble for your boarding pass as you reach the gate. Or when the woman in WH Smiths demands to see it.

Love it. I hope to see this deployed across BA’s entire operation soon! Yes, paper will need to be used for some time to come but for those who want to erase the tiny hassles from their lives, the mobile boarding pass will really, really help.

And now, here are a few more pictures:

BlackBerry: