Bar-Coded Boarding Passes (BCBP) Implementation guide - IATA

StB Bar Coded Boarding Pass Implementation Guide
4.6. Project map
The steps of the project can be mapped onto a passenger travel chart, from home to the aircraft
(see fig. 16). The Departure Control System (DCS) is involved in every check-in mode and in the
boarding stage.
A BCBP project can start with any of the channels:
• At the airport
• On the web
• On the kiosks
• Or even on mobile phones
Although several channels can be initiated simultaneously, airlines tend to start with one of them,
and generally choose the web check-in first.
Once the BCBP is available online and printed at home, the project manager has to inform the
airports of the introduction of the new type of boarding pass. Using the IATA standard will
facilitate this step as airports can easily check the content of the bar code.
Then the BCBP needs to be read at the gate: it is both a hardware and a software issue as we
have seen. At the same time the agent at the gate needs to be trained, in order to accept the
BCBP and handle the bar code reader properly.
Once the boarding process is automated with the new standard, additional bar codes can be
introduced. Upgrading the kiosk involves ensuring that the print quality of the General Purpose
Printer (GPP) is adequate and upgrading the airline application so that it handles bar codes and
GPP. The same happens at the desk, although the owner of the equipment may be different.
The following section provides a timeframe for the project.
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