Air France tests mobile boarding passes

Air France has announced that it is trialling the use of boarding passes on mobile phones for flights within Europe.

The service is initially being tried out on daily flights between Paris and Amsterdam.

Air France describes the development as "a world premiere for international round-trip flights".

In order to take part in the initiative, passengers have to register with Air France and have an electronic boarding pass or barcode sent to their mobile phone.

The sent image contains all the information that would be displayed on a conventional boarding pass, including boarding time and seat number, and is scanned at the boarding gate before being checked by stewards on the plane.

Personal identification is the only paper document that travellers taking part in the scheme will need.

Patrick Roux, vice-president of marketing for Air France, described the service as the industry's "next major technological innovation after e-ticketing".

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