Allegiant Air expands use of cellphone boarding passes

Allegiant Air has expanded cellphone boarding passes to cover its entire system.

The unit of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co. announced on Tuesday that passengers at all 101 of the airports it serves no long need paper boarding passes. Instead, they can go through the airline’s Allegiant-To-Go app to pull a QR code on a cellphone screen, then hold it over a scanner at both the security checkpoint and the gate.

Many airlines have already adopted mobile boarding passes. Allegiant started in March by equipping Las Vegas, Bellingham, Wash., and Medford, Ore., to accept them. Until now, the program had included only 46 cities, but the final push brought in the other 55.

At this point, Allegiant says it does not have any plans to charge extra for using a mobile boarding pass. As part of its standard business model, Allegiant charges extra for numerous parts of a flight, from using the overhead luggage bins to water to using the expedited security line in Honolulu.

“The introduction of these types of convenient, self-service technologies enables us to pass savings on to our customers and keep our fares lower than other carriers,” said Scott Allard, Allegiant’s chief information officer.