Mobile phones could also become “personal travel folders”, says SITA, holding a passenger’s boarding passes, baggage tracking information and payment data and maybe even visa and biometric information.

It’ll be interesting to see how the airline industry balances privacy and convenience in the next few years. It’s easy to see passengers embracing mobile ticketing, even the tracking scenarios, but storing biometric data on their phone? I’m not so sure. After all, people have railed against such details being stored on passports and by the government, I’m not convinced they’d be willing to put such details in the hands of a commercial organisation for a few seconds shaved off check-in.

Travellers will be able to download their electronic boarding pass from delta.com, and then present it to airport security and later on at the boarding gate where it will be scanned. It looks like Delta’s got big plans for mobile check-in too: “Future enhancements include standby upgrades and same day, round trip check-in on delta.com, mobile and SMS check-in,” the company said.

It all sounds great, but what happens when your phone dies? Do airport staff have an emergency charger to hand?

The mobile plane tickets were introduced last week in Edinburgh, with BMI set to expand the system – created by local company Real Time – to other Scottish airports including Glasgow and Aberdeen.

The Herald says that “dozens” of customers have tried the mobile boarding system since it was introduced. Dozens? Was it a slow week at BMI or is the airline not really pushing the mobile ticketing system? Surely, given that everyone carries a mobile with them at all times, it’s way more convenient to have a mobile ticket than a bit of paper that can get lost – there’s got to be more than a few dozen people willing to give the system a go.