At some airports, cell phones can check in passengers

Two Japanese carriers--Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways--are using the method for skipping the traditional check-in, as is DBA, a unit of Germany's Air Berlin.

But while the new systems might save paper and time, they do nothing to lessen the time spent in security lines. And, in most cases, passengers checking bags are still required to stand in line to check in.

JAL introduced a check-in system called "Touch and Go" at four airports in Japan in 2005. The service, now expanded to 44 airports throughout Japan, is available only on domestic flights, where passengers are not required to provide identification.

In September, ANA outfitted 24 airports in Japan with machines for the quick check-in system and plans to have all the airports it serves in the country set up by the end of the year.

The technology used at the airports in Japan is similar to what is employed on many urban transportation and rail systems, where the cell phone or credit card is swiped across a sensor. Though both Japanese airlines say their wireless check-in programs have been a success, it is unlikely that similar services will be used soon for international flights or in other parts of the world.

"At present, we do not plan to introduce this system internationally, as there are many issues to overcome," Ko Yoshida, the vice president for domestic marketing planning at Japan Airlines, wrote in an e-mail message.

Governments may take issue with this type of check-in process for security reasons, but some industry experts say such fears are overblown.

"The authentication capabilities of a mobile phone are strong enough and hard to spoof because the phone number is coded onto the SIM card," Graham Titterington, an analyst at Ovum in London who specializes in security issues, said in reference to the identification chip within a phone.

"The real question is whether the phone is stolen--as they often are," Titterington said, "but paper documents can be stolen as well. A thief who stole a phone would have to match the identity of the legitimate owner of the phone with a plane ticket."

Even if a phone were stolen and used successfully to check in, he said, the thief would still have to clear the security checkpoint.

"Though the U.S. authorities are not likely to agree with me, it seems more important to know what you are bringing on the plane rather than who you are," Titterington said.

Yoshida declined to say how much JAL had invested or if the service is growing in popularity, though he did say millions of people have used the service since it was introduced in February 2005.

ANA's service, called Skip, is being used by 15,000 customers a day, and the airline has begun to study how to expand the service abroad, according to Taiichi Nomura, the manager for passenger services planning for ANA.

"We have had a great deal of interest from our overseas partner airlines, including those in the Star Alliance," Nomura wrote in an e-mail message. Star Alliance members include United Airlines and Lufthansa. "It's too early to say what the cost savings will be, as the service only started in September--but it certainly has the merit of doing away with paper boarding passes with magnetic strips."

Since March, DBA passengers on the Hannover-Munich route without bags to check have been able to check in using a bar code that is sent to their cell phone. About 150 people use the service a month; a decision on expanding it to other routes has not been made.

Unisys, meanwhile, has developed a quick check-in method based on newly designed machines that read only mobile phones. The company says these check-in points can process passengers much more quickly than can existing machines.