Google Now's Automatic Digital Boarding Passes Go Live

Early today, Google rolled out automatic digital boarding passes to Google Now, a rather convenient and impressive service that keeps users updated on things, such as weather and sports scores. The announcement was made via the company's @Android Twitter account, and is complete with a video showing off the new feature, which you can watch after the jump.

Flying is already enough of a hassle without having to wait in line at the counter or kiosk to get a boarding pass. Printing out the pass at home is slightly more convenient, but not as much as having it automatically appear on your smartphone, no effort needed. The service achieves this by poking through your email for flight confirmations and automatically brings up a digital boarding pass based on what it finds.

To use it, flyers must check-in online with their airline like normal. Once checked in, Google Now will automatically retrieve a digital boarding pass, complete with a barcode, on your behalf. The digital boarding pass displays everything you get on a printed boarding pass: terminal, gate, and seat number.

At the gate, the flyer simply shows the digital boarding pass, which displays a QR code that is scanned. The service only works with certain airlines at the moment, and as of right now, Google has not stated which airlines these are, although we'll presumably be hearing specifics in the coming days. Users must be running Android 4.1 or higher.

[via Android Community]