Should airlines put gate numbers on boarding passes?

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Personally would rather trust what is on departure screens, rather than what is written on a boarding pass (and subject to change).

That's not without its problems either as some pax look at the arrivals screen by mistake & go to the gate where a flight is arriving from the city they're flying so the upshot is they're still going to be at the wrong gate.

IMHO having the gate number on the boarding pass is still the best option.
 
That's not without its problems either as some pax look at the arrivals screen by mistake & go to the gate where a flight is arriving from the city they're flying so the upshot is they're still going to be at the wrong gate.

IMHO having the gate number on the boarding pass is still the best option.

I would agree, time to get the gate number on the boarding passes. It may happen gates being changed, but doesn't happen too much to not warrent the gate on the BP.
 
Give all passengers a beeper, not unlike a pub, with positioning for wayward passengers (it's amazing how passengers can go AWOL in DRW and the old CBR), and a screen that says which gate to go to. This would be separate to the boarding pass. That way, they can be tracked anywhere in the airport. When boarding the plane, the beeper, which is linked to the boarding pass, is returned and also serves to check you onto the plane. The boarding pass is kept purely for luggage and reminding you which seat to go it.
 
That's not without its problems either as some pax look at the arrivals screen by mistake & go to the gate where a flight is arriving from the city they're flying so the upshot is they're still going to be at the wrong gate.

IMHO having the gate number on the boarding pass is still the best option.

You can't control passenger stupidity, if they can't tell the different between Arrivals and Departures then not much hope for them (In most cases a different flight number would be a give away imho).
Having a number printed/written on the boarding pass presents more problems than it solves, ie a pax who misses a flight complaining the bp had gate 1 when the actual dep gate changed to gate 11 for example.
 
You can't control passenger stupidity, if they can't tell the different between Arrivals and Departures then not much hope for them (In most cases a different flight number would be a give away imho).
Having a number printed/written on the boarding pass presents more problems than it solves, ie a pax who misses a flight complaining the bp had gate 1 when the actual dep gate changed to gate 11 for example.

I do have some sympathy for those who perhaps have poor English. Australia is hopeless I find at universal pictograms compared with Europe. Arrivals and Departures may be meaningful for us, but useless for others, and I'm not talking about tourists. It may come as a shock - but English is a Second Language for a large proportion of the NT, and with poor education programs up here that traditionally disempower those outside of Darwin for whom English is not their first tongue, literacy is poor. If it wasn't for Catholic Ed in places such as Nguiu and Wadeye, the crisis would be worse.

I'm not sure a boarding pass would resolve this issue, but rather, we need perhaps more visual ways to communicate than changeable text. I apologise if this sounds a bit teachery, I am qualified.
 
I do have some sympathy for those who perhaps have poor English. Australia is hopeless I find at universal pictograms compared with Europe. Arrivals and Departures may be meaningful for us, but useless for others, and I'm not talking about tourists. It may come as a shock - but English is a Second Language for a large proportion of the NT, and with poor education programs up here that traditionally disempower those outside of Darwin for whom English is not their first tongue, literacy is poor. If it wasn't for Catholic Ed in places such as Nguiu and Wadeye, the crisis would be worse.

I'm not sure a boarding pass would resolve this issue, but rather, we need perhaps more visual ways to communicate than changeable text. I apologise if this sounds a bit teachery, I am qualified.

Don't forget the Lutheran Church in Central Australia eg Hermannsburg now often referred to by it's traditional name of Ntaria.

It may surprise you that many of the worst offenders are people whose first language is English and whose email addresses often end in ".edu.au".
 
With passbook for iPhone looking like it will be a reality in a matter of months, it does seem that a solution could be at hand. Presumably other phone companies are on the job to replicate such an idea as we speak. The main impediment would be the lack of free wifi access at many airports, which would be a major issue for overseas travellers who would lack a local 3G SIM or the desire to pay ridiculous amounts in a foreign currency for usually very limited internet access (looking squarely at you, MEL! :evil:).
 
With passbook for iPhone looking like it will be a reality in a matter of months, it does seem that a solution could be at hand. Presumably other phone companies are on the job to replicate such an idea as we speak. The main impediment would be the lack of free wifi access at many airports, which would be a major issue for overseas travellers who would lack a local 3G SIM or the desire to pay ridiculous amounts in a foreign currency for usually very limited internet access (looking squarely at you, MEL! :evil:).

There is the suggestion that the iPhone 5 will not be coming with NFC. Without it, I don't see how Passbook adds any value, wifi or not, as it doesn't speed up checkin for the airlines, although iPhone users will have the smug factor, "I just used my iPhone." Better to upgrade to Windows Phone 8 in November. NFC checkin will be possible - and if QF/DJ take advantage of it, that's two less cards in my wallet!
 
... - and if QF/DJ take advantage of it, that's two less cards in my wallet!

I endeavor to avoid travelling without having my statused cards in my possession - even if stored in a card folder in my bag.
 
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Google Now already notifies you of gate changes on your phone if your gate changes automatically.
 
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The use of such technology means all pax needs to have either an iphone/ipad or some sort of a "smart" device. There will always be someone who doesn't have it, and will rely on the more traditional methods of finding their gates (or missing their flights while attempting to do so).
 
You can't control passenger stupidity, if they can't tell the different between Arrivals and Departures then not much hope for them (In most cases a different flight number would be a give away imho).

Having a number printed/written on the boarding pass presents more problems than it solves, ie a pax who misses a flight complaining the bp had gate 1 when the actual dep gate changed to gate 11 for example.

A lot of pax wouldn't even know their flight nbr half the time just that they are going to ADL for example so pretty easy to look at the arrivals screen & go to the gate where an ADL flight is arriving from.

In the case where a gate nbr is printed on a boarding pass & there's a gate change you can easily send a staff member there to pick up any errant pax from the original gate.

With sequence numbers equalling the nbr of pax booked on a flight & no gate nbr on b/pass pax can end up anywhere including parts of the terminal that do not broadcast that airlines PA.

Example: I was seeing a friend off to SYD which was departing from gate 21 at BNE domestic & while having a coffee talking about this very subject when we hear a PA for a Mr & Mrs Bloggs "recently arrived from HVB & travelling to MEL on QF619 please go immediately to gate 19".

Departure time of 1155 comes & goes before pax are eventually found & heard them telling the FA "we were right down the other end of the terminal because it said gate 55 on our boarding pass".

There is no gate 55 at BNE dom.

They would not have heard any boarding calls or PA's as QF P/A's are not heard past gate 25. They were either sequence nbrs 54 & 55 or 55 & 56 but didn't pick up that each boarding pass had a different 'gate' number on it.

The flight would have been delayed by at least 10 mins.
 
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There is the suggestion that the iPhone 5 will not be coming with NFC. Without it, I don't see how Passbook adds any value, wifi or not, as it doesn't speed up checkin for the airlines, although iPhone users will have the smug factor, "I just used my iPhone." Better to upgrade to Windows Phone 8 in November. NFC checkin will be possible - and if QF/DJ take advantage of it, that's two less cards in my wallet!

While I haven't seen many pictures, I don't see why one needs NFC to use Passbook properly. I would think that a barcode on the screen would work just fine. The main difference is that it is more easily changeable should the need arise. I couldn't see why airlines couldn't also use Passbook as an alternative to physical FF cards (as long as lounge dragons are amiable to it, of course!).

It should be noted that Passbook comes with iOS 6 and so should work on previous, definitely non NFC iYokes. Obviously it's hard to know the truth until all is revealed, but I don't think the lack of NFC will be too much of an issue. As an unashamedly smug :p iPhone 4S owner who's not looking to upgrade, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Passbook goes when the iOS update is released.

The use of such technology means all pax needs to have either an iphone/ipad or some sort of a "smart" device. There will always be someone who doesn't have it, and will rely on the more traditional methods of finding their gates (or missing their flights while attempting to do so).

That is true, but it is also likely to remain true while all airline passengers are humans. The potential for such technology to reduce such problems is obvious though, I think.
 
I think the boarding pass is fairly clear as it is and in my opinion the gate is the responsibility of the passenger not the airline. That being said the gate (when it is known) is usually written on the boarding pass by check-in agent.

I understand there are those whose English is not great (read my parents) but they have never been offloaded and they are never late to get to boarding gate. With both of them all I have to say is 'Mum/Dad you are departing from gate 47" and they just follow the signs. They can also ask for directions. In places like SIN, BKK there is always someone to assist and mum has mentioned the staff waiting the flights are always very friendly and willing to assist.
 
While I haven't seen many pictures, I don't see why one needs NFC to use Passbook properly. I would think that a barcode on the screen would work just fine. The main difference is that it is more easily changeable should the need arise. I couldn't see why airlines couldn't also use Passbook as an alternative to physical FF cards (as long as lounge dragons are amiable to it, of course!).

It should be noted that Passbook comes with iOS 6 and so should work on previous, definitely non NFC iYokes. Obviously it's hard to know the truth until all is revealed, but I don't think the lack of NFC will be too much of an issue. As an unashamedly smug :p iPhone 4S owner who's not looking to upgrade, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Passbook goes when the iOS update is released.

Airline checkin with NFC. There's a Tile for that. Microsoft adds NFC to Windows Phone 8 with Wallet Hub, Tap + Send | The Verge
 
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