Airline reservations systems could be transformed in the next two years to allow frequent flyers to turn up at airports without a ticket and swipe a card to board a flight.
Senior business development director at aviation supplier ITA Software David Peller revealed plans to roll out such a system with Air Canada next year.
It will include facilities for electronic credit accounts and allow customers to make or change bookings up to 30 minutes before departure.
Peller said: “One of the biggest challenges at the moment is that bookings are handed to an airport’s departure control system 24 hours before a flight, making it practically impossible to change a booking or even switch a seat.
“We will eliminate that by having a single system to enable changes to be made to a booking up to 30 minutes before departure.
“The core systems of legacy [traditional] airlines, designed in the days of a regulated, standardised industry, are prehistoric.”