The main issue I have with this design is that it doesn't account for the cost of implementing the proposed changes. For paper boarding passes, it's prohibitiv

The main issue I have with this design is that it doesn't account for the cost of implementing the proposed changes. For paper boarding passes, it's prohibitively expensive to upgrade the printers and self-check-in kiosks to support new-fangled boarding pass layouts. Plus, you have to do it at every airport around the world. It would be far cheaper to have some professionally printed full-color paper templates to feed into the printers (see, for example, Virgin America boarding passes issued at SFO). Plus, iPhone Passbook tickets are uniformly designed, and have the key information (seat number, boarding time) in slightly bigger bold font at the top. It would be far cheaper to get an airline to install eTicket readers (aka QR code scanners) at the few small airports that don't have them, and then to upgrade their mobile apps to support generating Apple Passbook boarding passes for the remaining ticket types that don't work (e.g. group fares).