Alas, something free from airlines: boarding pass ads

Luggage? Got it. Boarding pass? Check. Ads on boarding pass to help beleaguered airline industry pay for expensive fuel? Check.

Most major U.S. airlines will begin displaying ads on boarding passes for customers who check in from home. Customers can print the boarding passes without ads if they want.

Sojern Inc., which is selling the ads, said Delta Air Lines Inc. was to begin using the ads Tuesday on flights to Las Vegas, and on all other domestic destinations soon. AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp., US Airways Group Inc., Continental Airlines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines have signed up and will begin using the ads in the months ahead, Sojern said.

The airlines own a minority stake in Sojern and will split revenue from the ads. None of the parties would say how much they expected to make. But Al Lenza, the vice president of distribution and e-commerce at Northwest, said 40% of his airline’s check-ins happen at its website, adding up to as many as 30 million customers a year.

“I think this is going to be responsible for many millions of dollars for each airline,” he said.

The boarding-pass ads are only the latest effort by airlines to raise cash to help offset soaring fuel costs. Many have already cut jobs, reduced capacity and hiked fees, including charging for checked bags.

Travelers who check in from a home computer will see their boarding pass along with information for their destination including weather, restaurants and attractions in the city to which they’re flying. Sojern said it would limit the boarding pass to one printed page, the same as current ad-free boarding passes.

The company will not tailor the ads to individual customers yet, but it may do that in the future, said Gordon Whitten, the company’s founder and chief executive. He said Sojern had been in contact with other airlines about selling the boarding pass ads.

The airlines said they had worked to make sure they would not annoy customers with the ads.

Josh Weiss, managing director for Delta’s website and self service, said that was why they included the option to not print the ads and made sure the boarding pass would load quickly on passengers’ computers.