The Revolution of Ticketing

Say you were going on a vacation to Orlando just 10 years ago. You had to go to the airline ticket office, and buy your ticket there. Then just a few years ago, the airlines invented the Quick Ticket Kiosk. First you buy your ticket online, then you show up at the airport, check in, and get your boarding pass from a simple little machine. It was truly the next big thing of the airline industry. But then came the ability to print your boarding pass at home. The lines at the kiosks were greatly reduced. And now, we are at the next stage of evolution for not just the airline industry; but for the movie and transportation industries. This stage of evolution is mobile ticketing. The customer can buy and load up their boarding pass all from their small phone. For example, most major airlines are now rolling out smartphone apps that allow customers to have an electronic boarding pass. And this is also starting to roll out in mass transit. The Boston commuter rail network is running a pilot for electronic tickets on most of its lines. This really shows that focus of ticketing is really heading towards all electronic. This is the main reason for the creation of Apple's Passbook app and Google's Google Wallet; let customers have tickets and cards in a neat mobile app. And that's all that's been happening. Everyone is coming out with electronic ticketing. Fandango, jetBlue, United, American, and the list goes on of all of the big guys who have mobile ticketing in their systems.
And it's not just the fact that the tools are available that makes customers want to come. It's the fact that it's so easy that makes everyone flock to new technology. And hopefully, the interfaces will only become more intuitive and easier to understand as the ticketing industry evolves further. But for now, I enjoy pulling up my Fandango movie ticket on my phone, paying for my Strawberry Frappucino at Starbucks with my Starbucks card in Passbook, having my Starwood Preferred Guest card on my phone, and my jetBlue plane ticket on my phone. What more can I ask for? :)