a machine with a screen and a phone

Oh United Airlines, I know you want to encourage folks to use digital boarding passes, but do you really have to make it so grueling to print a paper boarding pass from an airport kiosk?

How You Can Still Print A Paper Boarding Pass From A United Airlines Airport Kiosk.

United has launched its next-generation interface for its airport kiosks and there is one notable missing option: obtaining a paper boarding pass with ease.

The Chicago-based airline is hardly alone in wanting to reduce the cost of paper boarding passes and direct people to use their mobile phones (Alaksa has also made it tough), but now makes it appear as if printing paper boarding passes is no longer possible. It is…but will require some maneuvering.

I was in O’Hare Airport trying to print out a boarding pass and all I saw were digital options.

I asked a check-in agent to print me a boarding pass and she barked back, “Use the kiosk.” I responded that there was no option. She rolled her eyes and walked over to the machine and quickly pushed a number of buttons to print one out.

Here’s how you do it (I’m borrowing the photos below from Flyertalk user NikoLGA):

1. Pull up your reservation and click on “get digital boarding pass” (the option to print paper boarding pass is gone).

a screen shot of a computer

2. At the bottom left, click on “more options”

a screen with text on it

3. A pop-up box will then allow you to click to print a paper boarding pass

a screen with a white screen and a blue text

Call me old-fashioned, but I make it a point to obtain a paper boarding pass for three reasons. First, because phones can malfunction or batteries die. Two, to guard against shenanigans like last-minute seat changes or downgrades. Third, in case of crediting issues later, mobile boarding passes expire so I do keep my paper boarding passes in a folder at home until everything credits (That was key, for example, with my recent SAS Million Mile trip around the world).

I find United’s new system unreasonably and unnecessarily complex: let people print paper boarding passes…there are many valid reasons to do so.

But at least now you know how to get one from United’s labyrinth-like airport kiosks.


> Read More: The End Of Paper Boarding Passes

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