Air Canada Mobile Bar Code Madness
In preparation for my annual trip to Bermuda and its Film Festival I thought I’d go paperless with Air Canada’s new Mobile Check-in service. And predictably, instead of ending up with a 2D barcode I got the message seen in the screen grab above.
Just so I’m clear on this… I have a phone running the number one smartphone OS in the world, made by the world’s number one handset manufacturer, and yet it’s not recognized by Air Canada.
My bad, clearly… 
AC:
I don’t think you’re being fair to yourself, or your phone or to technology in general. After all, it is Air Canada. I’ll bet other airlines would allow you to do things with mobile technology…
Bon voyage!
Ed
Ed Miller
March 27, 2008
Um, maybe you read an earlier draft of this post before I put those rolly-polly eyes in at the end?
AC
March 28, 2008
AC:
Maybe Air Canada is still using the Newton? Let’s be fair to the country’s #1 airline, noted for its tremendous customer service around the world.
Ed
Ed Miller
March 28, 2008
I can’t even get that far. I get the ” Only WML enabled devices are authorized to use this application” error message. I tried with the standard browser and even with Opera Mobile, to no avail. The worst is that you can’t even contact Air Canada to send them the hint (they don’t have an e-mail address anywhere on their site), and if you try to phone in, you can’t get to anyone who knows what you are talking about.
HB
April 7, 2008
Hi HB,
I think I can explain this. Because of Opera Mobile’s server-side optimization of sites it’s technically not a WAP browser and thus can’t read pages written in WML (wireless markup language).
Try your mobile’s default browser and see if that works…
AC
April 8, 2008
I have tried on 3 different flights to use the mobile check-in (Treo750) and each time I get both SMS messages but when I click on the link I get an error message in the browser issued by air canada. Any ideas? I have unlocked my Rogers phone, could that have something to do with it? Any Treo750s out there that succeeded?
Robert
April 15, 2008
There’s a thread over on the FlyerTalk Forums about experiences with AC’s Mobile Check-In:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/4tf8tb
At least one smug BlackBerry user has reported success — I think it comes down to the system recognizing the browser on your handset. Pocket IE (or whatever they’re calling it these days) should be recognized…
AC
April 16, 2008