Paperless Check-In at LGA...Ooops

In an earlier post I expressed excitement about DL's expansion of their paperless check-in facility. On a recent trip I was able to use it for the first time. Below is the message which I sent to DL about my disappointment at the poor results which I experienced.

After using paperless check-in for CO & NW flights (EWR & DTW) I was full of expectation about busing it for my flight out of LGA on DL. Unfortunately, it did not meet up with my earlier experiences, in a number of ways. I would like to pass on some suggestions and hope that DL will take them as constructive criticism (Katie please note).

Firstly, the check-in process…I received the usual text message and went straight to the (mobile) site. I checked in and expected a text or email with my bar code (as with CO or NW). No such luck. I had to follow the link in the “check in now” email, and then select ‘Reprint’ to get the barcode to display. For mobile transactions there were just too many screens, scrolls and clicks. If I may suggest, the CO process, with MMS message (text message with text) is the better process, NW is a close second where the barcode is emailed. The latter will not work however for pax who do not have email on their phone.

Back to the story….Now that I have the barcode on my screen, one thing that struck was that DL is using a traditional 2D barcode and not the 3D code being used by both CO and NW. As 3D barcodes are easier to read, this put some suspicions in my mind. And yes, at the security checkpoint, even after setting my backlight to full brightness, the barcode could not be read. So out of line, reprint a paper pass, and back into line. Luckily I can use the Clear line, so at least I did not have to wait 15 minutes again [On an aside and not DL's fault, but the Clear line had "lost" their scanner and had to use the TSA scanner! Obviously not many people use this feature at LGA, especially Clear members].

Next stop, Crown Room, and yes again, no joy with the scanner. The agent at the door actually said that he thought that the Crown Rooms were not yet ready to accept the mobile barcodes.

So finally, what will happen at the gate? I am actually writing this in the Crown Room before my flight, so I will have to let you know later whether this last step was successful.So while I am excited about paperless checkin being expanded on the DL network, especially at my home airport, MCO, I am worried that I may not be able to use it much. Unless DL “borrows” technology from their sister airline NW, which I know works for me.