Some of Australia's biggest airlines are now allowing travellers to use their mobile phones to check-in for their flights. Over the last two weeks Virgin Blue, Qantas and Jetstar have announced that customers can now check-in remotely from their handset.

Only customers who can access the internet with their mobile phones will be able to use the Virgin Blue and Qantas mobile check-in option. Both companies will send passengers a 2D barcode to scan upon arrival at the airport.

In contrast, Jetstar claim an even wider range of customers can use their new mobile check-in service being tested on the Melbourne Avalon-Sydney route. The new Jetstar service will involve sending SMS’s and an email to passengers containing their boarding pass details.

‘As a low-cost leisure airline, Jetstar must cater for 99.9 per cent of all passengers and passenger phones. The 2D Codes proposed by Qantas, Virgin and Air New Zealand, are restricted to 3G phones and customers subscribed to a phone WAP plan.’ said Jetstar.

The Qantas Next Generation Check-in and Virgin Check-Mate services are part of a large project to enhance mobile phone options for passengers, such as giving real time access to flight details, flight information, check-in options, seat selections, cancellation announcements, bookings and other customer service information.

Both Qantas and Virgin have released the new mobile check-in option as an application for smartphones and web enabled handsets. In late April, Virgin launched 'Check-Mate' as an exclusive Virgin Blue BlackBerry application, while any web enabled mobile browser can access the Qantas Mobile application.

Frequent flyers are the biggest winners and will benefit from an extensive range of extra features in both Qantas and Virgin applications. In conjunction with WorldMate, Virgin Blue will offer Virgin Blue Velocity members business features to help manage their itinerary and keep informed with travel alerts. Qantas frequent flyers will also have access to a wide range of information such as their frequent flyer details, flight history and points total.

One of the biggest advantages of mobile check-in options is the move from paper boarding passes to electronic check-in. This is an environmental plus to help combat the airline industry's huge carbon footprint, which will possible set a precedent for companies affiliated with other modes of travel.