Japan Airlines Corp. said Thursday it will launch new mileage cards early next year that customers will be able to use as electronic tickets to bypass the check-in counter.
The new service will be for domestic passengers. It will be available first at Tokyo's Haneda airport, and will be introduced later at other domestic airports, JAL officials said.
While the carrier hopes eventually to offer the service to international passengers, it may prove difficult due to security concerns, they said.
With the new service, holders of mileage cards will be able to check in on JAL's Web site before arriving at the airport.
At the airport, passengers will be able to go directly to the security gate and scan their cards to receive seat assignments and boarding gate information.
Passengers with check-in luggage, however, will still have to go to the airline's check-in counter.
Current mileage cards will have to be exchanged for new ones containing integrated-circuit chips. The new IC cards will be available in the winter, according to the officials.
