Smartphone tickets for air travel see upward trend

Furnishing an Internet copy of air tickets on smartphones like Android and BlackBerry is catching up amongst fliers as the CISF has implemented the customer friendly measure across all airports in the country.

Air travellers, travelling to a domestic or an international destination, can furnish original PDF files on the owners email id or otherwise which is clearly readable to the Central Industrial Security Force security personnel posted at the entry gate of civil airports of the country.

"Thousands of air passengers are given entry to the airports on the basis of e-tickets daily.

“With the increase in the usage of smartphones, the force is alive to the situation and receptive to such travellers across airports in the country," a senior CISF officer said.

All the airports in the country have been asked to allow those passengers

inside airport terminals who have these valid documents, the officer said.

However, those possessing forwarded emails, SMSes sent by the airline or unreadable e-ticket copies will not be allowed to enter as the security personnel could not be sure about the authenticity of the traveller.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security earlier this year had issued an order in this regard after which security agencies like CISF had trained their personnel in identifying such travel authorisations.

The BCAS, which is the nodal agency for civil aviation security, has issued orders for acceptability of soft display of tickets on laptops, tablets and smart-phones at the entry point of airport earlier.

Before this arrangement, it was mandatory for travellers to carry printout of the e-ticket along with their valid identity cards to enter into the airport.

Indian Railways had implemented the system of accepting the soft display of the ticket about over an year back.