Northwest announced today that customers may now print their boarding passes at international fax machines after checking in for flights over the Internet, in addition to the domestic faxing added in July 2005.
We have never taken advantage of this service, preferring to print our boarding passes directly to our printers. It is a valuable service for those who travel with laptops, but have no ability to print when on the road.
We did a quick check of the US carriers, to see who offered this service as part of online checkin. We found that Continental also offers this service. Southwest not only does not offer it, but notes that like many carriers, faxed copies of boarding passes will not be accepted. Various foreign carriers, such as Singapore Airlines, also offer this service.
After online checkin options, paired with self-service kiosks, became the norm for most airlines, allowing them to reduce checkin lines at most airports, it did not seem like they could offer many options for enhancing that system. This seems to be one of those areas in which airlines can enhance their offerings for travellers away from home…where printers are not necessarilly available, but many businesses have fax machines.