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> Unless the app is exceptionally horrible you can just export it to Apple/Android wallet which is much more convenient than having to find a printer. Why do i

> Unless the app is exceptionally horrible you can just export it to Apple/Android wallet which is much more convenient than having to find a printer. Why do iOS and Android phones have a "wallet", and why a boarding pass would have anything to do with it? There's an electronic solution strictly better than the app, for when you have no printer handy: just give the user the goddamned PDF! Works everywhere, works offline, can be printed if needed, and the user can manage, send or back it up however they like. It's a simple solution that works.

closewith 2y ago
I have a few qualms with this app: 1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software. 2. It doesn't actually replace a USB drive. Most people I know e-mail files to themselves or host them somewhere online to be able to perform presentations, but they still carry a USB drive in case there are connectivity problems. This does not solve the connectivity issue. 3. It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know this is premature at this point, but without charging users for the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of this?
- porridgeraisin 2y ago
  Context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
realityking 2y ago
You can do that if you want. Most airlines issue PDF boarding passes and both iOS and Android can store and show those files. Apple Wallet (and Apple Pay) are actually one of my favorite smartphone features. The built-in Wallet (speaking for iOS here) has a few advantages over a folder of PDFs: - The QR code is always fairly big without having to pan and zoom a PDF file - The display brightness is automatically increased to make reading the QR code easier - The Wallet syncs with my Apple Watch (where passes use a different, optimized layout) giving me backup if something where to happen to my phone during boarding - Passes can be updated by the airline (e.g. gate changes) - Passes automatically expire, I don’t have to cleanup myself. (There’s archive in case I need an old one) - Passes can be shown on your lock screen during the boarding time for easier access - Passes can be multilingual, adapting to your phone’s language
svachalek 2y ago
The wallet allows activation by proximity like RFID. So if the pass is in the wallet you don't need to go digging around for wherever the PDF is stored in the phone. Tap, the pass is requested, the pass responds, go.
scarface_74 2y ago
Can a PDF automatically update with gate changes and delays?
- rad_gruchalski 2y ago
  You’re already at the airport. Just look around, stop staring at the phone.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    Until two years ago, I flew out of ATL - the busiest airport in the US. Am I suppose to look on the board and look for my flight out of the hundreds of flights to see if anything has changed and keep looking every 30 minutes? If I’m sitting at a restaurant or a bar I should get up every 20 minutes to see if something has changed? Should I also print out MapQuest directions before I go somewhere and wait for the paper boy to deliver the newspaper to get the news? And it’s literally a mile from one end of the airport to the other. Is it somehow better to look on a board than just look on a phone? And then you also get notifications when the flight changes so drastically that I need to completely change my flight plans. Just this past weekend we were suppose to fly MCO - MSP - LAS and flight changes meant we were going to misd our layover. Luckily we were notified as soon as the change happen and we were able to make a change to MCO - ATL - LAS and get two of the last seats. The same happen on the way back. It was LAS - MSP - MCO and we were able to change it to LAS - LAX - MCO. Things always change when you fly a lot. The sooner you know about those changes the better.
    - rad_gruchalski 2y ago
      > Until two years ago, I flew out of ATL - the busiest airport in the US. Am I suppose to look on the board and look for my flight out of the hundreds of flights to see if anything has changed and keep looking every 30 minutes? That’s what I usually do. It’s not that much of an effort to look at the screen right at the gate you’re sitting at to confirm that nothing has changed. I‘ve been to ATL twice, it’s not that bad. What are you going to do when something happens to your phone … Can you imagine… how did we manage to live before everyone and their dog had a phone in their pocket. So yeah… yeah? That’s exactly what you supposed to be doing.
joseda-hg 2y ago
> Why do iOS and Android phones have a "wallet", and why a boarding pass would have anything to do with it? It's not that deep, just a skeuomorphic name for somewhere where you'd keep importants/valuables for quick access, credit/debit cards, boarding passes, concert tickets Not unlike keeping a folded up copy of a pass in a physical wallet (Which may not be universal, but I would have guessed not that uncommon either)
- tmnvix 2y ago
  And if your phone is out of order? I used a PDF version of the boarding pass on my laptop in the past due to a flat phone. Even when my phone is available I still just use the PDF version that was emailed to me. I never use my phone 'wallet' for anything.
  - joseda-hg 2y ago
    If on hand, a smart watch also does the trick Since I use my phone to pay for things, book rides between places and basically existing in general I also keep a power bank on my person and a spare phone in my house But if I'm not confident on availability I also keep alternatives, I've not used physical money in months (Other than local bus fares), but I do keep some cash on my person, as well as the physical cards that I use virtually on my phone and copies of boarding passes when necessary, not that I've needed any of them recently, I just like covering my bases, it's not a binary situation, I'd also like to keep spares if my only copy was physical
  - wat10000 2y ago
    In the unlikely event my phone dies (hasn’t ever happened in 20 years of having phones) then I’ll go to the desk and ask them to print a boarding pass.
  - kelnos 2y ago
    You can do all those things if you want. Download the PDF to your laptop, add the pass to your phone's wallet, even print out a backup copy if you want. And then when you get to the airport, use whichever is most convenient for you. I generally just get the mobile pass and put it in Google Wallet. If I ever run into a situation where my phone is lost/broken/battery-drained, I'll just go up to the check-in desk or a kiosk and get my boarding pass printed. No big deal.

closewith 2y ago

I have a few qualms with this app: 1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software. 2. It doesn't actually replace a USB drive. Most people I know e-mail files to themselves or host them somewhere online to be able to perform presentations, but they still carry a USB drive in case there are connectivity problems. This does not solve the connectivity issue. 3. It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know this is premature at this point, but without charging users for the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of this?

porridgeraisin 2y ago
Context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

realityking 2y ago

You can do that if you want. Most airlines issue PDF boarding passes and both iOS and Android can store and show those files. Apple Wallet (and Apple Pay) are actually one of my favorite smartphone features. The built-in Wallet (speaking for iOS here) has a few advantages over a folder of PDFs: - The QR code is always fairly big without having to pan and zoom a PDF file - The display brightness is automatically increased to make reading the QR code easier - The Wallet syncs with my Apple Watch (where passes use a different, optimized layout) giving me backup if something where to happen to my phone during boarding - Passes can be updated by the airline (e.g. gate changes) - Passes automatically expire, I don’t have to cleanup myself. (There’s archive in case I need an old one) - Passes can be shown on your lock screen during the boarding time for easier access - Passes can be multilingual, adapting to your phone’s language

svachalek 2y ago

The wallet allows activation by proximity like RFID. So if the pass is in the wallet you don't need to go digging around for wherever the PDF is stored in the phone. Tap, the pass is requested, the pass responds, go.

scarface_74 2y ago

Can a PDF automatically update with gate changes and delays?

rad_gruchalski 2y ago
You’re already at the airport. Just look around, stop staring at the phone.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  Until two years ago, I flew out of ATL - the busiest airport in the US. Am I suppose to look on the board and look for my flight out of the hundreds of flights to see if anything has changed and keep looking every 30 minutes? If I’m sitting at a restaurant or a bar I should get up every 20 minutes to see if something has changed? Should I also print out MapQuest directions before I go somewhere and wait for the paper boy to deliver the newspaper to get the news? And it’s literally a mile from one end of the airport to the other. Is it somehow better to look on a board than just look on a phone? And then you also get notifications when the flight changes so drastically that I need to completely change my flight plans. Just this past weekend we were suppose to fly MCO - MSP - LAS and flight changes meant we were going to misd our layover. Luckily we were notified as soon as the change happen and we were able to make a change to MCO - ATL - LAS and get two of the last seats. The same happen on the way back. It was LAS - MSP - MCO and we were able to change it to LAS - LAX - MCO. Things always change when you fly a lot. The sooner you know about those changes the better.
  - rad_gruchalski 2y ago
    > Until two years ago, I flew out of ATL - the busiest airport in the US. Am I suppose to look on the board and look for my flight out of the hundreds of flights to see if anything has changed and keep looking every 30 minutes? That’s what I usually do. It’s not that much of an effort to look at the screen right at the gate you’re sitting at to confirm that nothing has changed. I‘ve been to ATL twice, it’s not that bad. What are you going to do when something happens to your phone … Can you imagine… how did we manage to live before everyone and their dog had a phone in their pocket. So yeah… yeah? That’s exactly what you supposed to be doing.

joseda-hg 2y ago

> Why do iOS and Android phones have a "wallet", and why a boarding pass would have anything to do with it? It's not that deep, just a skeuomorphic name for somewhere where you'd keep importants/valuables for quick access, credit/debit cards, boarding passes, concert tickets Not unlike keeping a folded up copy of a pass in a physical wallet (Which may not be universal, but I would have guessed not that uncommon either)

tmnvix 2y ago
And if your phone is out of order? I used a PDF version of the boarding pass on my laptop in the past due to a flat phone. Even when my phone is available I still just use the PDF version that was emailed to me. I never use my phone 'wallet' for anything.
- joseda-hg 2y ago
  If on hand, a smart watch also does the trick Since I use my phone to pay for things, book rides between places and basically existing in general I also keep a power bank on my person and a spare phone in my house But if I'm not confident on availability I also keep alternatives, I've not used physical money in months (Other than local bus fares), but I do keep some cash on my person, as well as the physical cards that I use virtually on my phone and copies of boarding passes when necessary, not that I've needed any of them recently, I just like covering my bases, it's not a binary situation, I'd also like to keep spares if my only copy was physical
- wat10000 2y ago
  In the unlikely event my phone dies (hasn’t ever happened in 20 years of having phones) then I’ll go to the desk and ask them to print a boarding pass.
- kelnos 2y ago
  You can do all those things if you want. Download the PDF to your laptop, add the pass to your phone's wallet, even print out a backup copy if you want. And then when you get to the airport, use whichever is most convenient for you. I generally just get the mobile pass and put it in Google Wallet. If I ever run into a situation where my phone is lost/broken/battery-drained, I'll just go up to the check-in desk or a kiosk and get my boarding pass printed. No big deal.