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British Airways reports near-quadrupling of Apple Watch app usage, will soon handle bag-drop too

British Airways has revealed that use of its Apple Watch app rose by 386% between June and October, and the airline is responding by introducing new scanners to allow Watch owners a faster way of dropping any hold bags, reports Advance.

Customers will be able to slide their wrists under the new ‘Scan and Go’ devices to scan their boarding pass, print their own bag tags and speed through the airport. A total of 136 of the new gadgets are being installed at check in desks across Heathrow’s Terminal 3 and 5, and will be ready for use on 15 December.

The scanners can also be used with the smartphone app.

BA’s app provides access to real-time flight status, gate information, a countdown to the departure time and the weather at their destination, as well as displaying a QR code that can be used at both Security and the gate.

The airline is planning an update to the iPad version which includes Highlife entertainment listings, allowing customers to peruse the in-flight movies prior to boarding.

Via Gizmodo

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Comments

  1. Chandler (@piacere2327) - 9 years ago

    I have to say, Passbook on Apple Watch seemed to me to be more like a “toy”. But having travelled some and using it for boarding passes, I found it to be VERY useful.

    Apple Watch for me still has no one killer feature yet and it’s probably still a “gadget” which you can easily live without. But it makes numerous little things more comfortable and even though I could live without it, I don’t WANT to live without it anymore. I can see this taking off really big over the next 2-3 years.

  2. Sandra Debellis - 9 years ago

    if apple stock is so great, why is the stock not moving up an today it is down?

    • Carlos Benjamin - 9 years ago

      It seems you don’t know much about stocks in general and not just Apple stock. They go up and they go down. “Today” is irrelevant…. It’s like watching a marathon and complaining about a single foot placement. If you want to know what’s so great about aapl search for it in google. Then don’t look at short term performance, click on a 5 year glimpse and for really impressive growth look at the max chart that shows how the stock has performed over the long-haul. The pictures should help. If you need comparisons look at Microsoft’s 5 year and max performance, then try IBM, AT&T, and Yahoo…. if you can’t see the difference at that point, I’m afraid there’s no hope.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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