From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BCBP (Bar Coded Boarding Pass) is the name of
the standard used by more than 200 airlines[1]. BCBP
defines the 2-Dimensional (2D) bar code printed on a boarding pass or
sent to a mobile phone for electronic boarding passes.
BCBP is part of the IATA Simplifying the
Business program, which has issued an industry mandate for all
boarding passes to be bar coded by 2010.
Airlines and third parties use a barcode reader to read the bar codes and
capture the data. Reading the bar code usually takes place in the
boarding (transport) process, but
can also happen when entering the airport security checkpoints.
The standard was originally published in 2005 by IATA and updated in 2008 to
include symbologies for mobile phones and in 2009 to include a
field for a digital signature in the mobile bar
codes. Future developments of the standard will include a Near Field Communication
format.
Paper
Boarding Passes
Paper boarding passes are issued either by agents at a check-in
counter, or by self-service kiosks, or by airline web check-in
site. BCBP can be printed at the airport by an ATB (Automated
Ticket & Boarding Pass) printer or a direct thermal printer, and at home or
office by a personal laser printer. The symbology for paper
boarding passes is PDF417.
IATA's Board of Governors' mandate states that all the IATA member
airlines will be capable of issuing BCBP by end 2008, and all the
boarding passes will contain the 2D bar code by end 2010. The BCBP
standard was published in 2005. It has been progressively adopted
by airlines: End 2005, 9 airlines were BCBP capable; 32 by end
2006; 101 by end 2007; and 200 by end 2008 (source: IATA).
Mobile
Boarding Passes
'Paper is out, Cellphones are in' [2] read
the NY Times on March 18th, 2008. BCBP can also be sent to mobile
phones, via MMS (Multimedia Messaging
Service) or email or WAP Push. IATA's BCBP
standard [3] defines
the three symbologies accepted for mobile phones: Aztec
code, Datamatrix and QR code. The United Nations
International Telecommunications Union
expects mobile phone subscribers to hit the 4 billion mark by the
end of 2008[4].
For Air France's VP Marketing, electronic boarding passes are
'the industry's next major technological innovation after e-ticketing'[5].
According to SITA's Airline IT Trend Survey 2009,[6] mobile
BCBP accounts for 2.1% of use (vs. paper boarding passes) and
forecast rising to 11.6% in 2012.
At least twenty airlines use mobile BCBP: Air Canada, Continental Airlines, Delta Air
Lines, Northwest Airlines, Lufthansa, bmi
(airline), Air
France, KLM, Air New
Zealand, Qatar
Airways, American Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan
Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific,
Austrian
Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Air China, Finnair, Swiss International Air
Lines, Spanair, Vueling, Malaysia
Airlines and WestJet. In
Europe, Lufthansa was one of the first airlines to launch Mobile
BCBP in April 2008 [7]. In the
US, the Transportation
Security Administration runs a pilot program of a Boarding Pass
Scanning System, using the IATA BCBP standard [8]. On
October 15th, 2008, the TSA announced that scanners would be
deployed within a year and scanning mobile BCBP would enable to
better track wait times [9] [10]. The
TSA keeps adding new pilot airports: Cleveland on October 23rd,
2008.[11]. The
TSA's plan to allow mobile boarding passes at airports nationwide
in 2009 has been captured by MSNBC.[12] On
October 14th, 2008, Alaska Airlines started piloting mobile
boarding passes at Seattle Seatac Airport[13]. On
November 3rd, 2008, Air New Zealand launched the mpass[14], a
boarding pass received on the mobile phone. On November 10th, 2008,
Qatar Airways launched their online check-in: passengers can have
their boarding passes sent directly to their mobile phones[15]. On
November 13th, 2008, American Airlines started offering mobile
boarding passes in Chicago O'Hare airport[16]. On
December 18th, 2008, Cathay Pacific launched its mobile Check-in
service, including the delivery of the barcode to the mobile
phone[17]. On
February 24th, 2009, Austrian Airlines begun offering paperless
boarding passes to customers on selected routes[18]. On
April 16th, 2009, SAS joined the mobile boarding pass bandwagon[19]. On
May 26th, 2009, Air China offered its customers to receive a
two-dimensional bar-code e-boarding pass on their mobile phone,
with which they can go through security procedures at any channel
in Beijing Airport Terminal 3, enabling a completely paperless
check-in service[20]. On
October 1st, 2009, Swiss introduced mobile boarding pass to its
customers [21]. On
November 12th, 2009, Finnair explained that "The mobile boarding
pass system cuts passengers’ carbon footprint by removing the need
for passengers to print out and keep track of a paper boarding
pass" [22].
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