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From KING5:
SEATTLE - One Seattle airline is on the cutting edge, cutting out the paper trail as you head for the gate. All you need is your cell phone.

For the past two weeks, Alaska Airlines has been quietly testing this new technology with its mileage members. Basically, you never have a paper ticket - all you do is wave your Web-enabled cell phone and you're on the plane.

When it comes to taking to their air, paper is on the way out and cell phones are in.

Alaska Airlines has become the first carrier at SeaTac International Airport to test electronic boarding passes. It essentially turns your cell phone or blackberry into your ticket onto the plane.

"So I can sit in my car, a taxicab, I don't have to go to the business center at the hotel. I don't have to have a computer at home," said Jeff Butler, Alaska Airlines customer service.

Alaska Airlines says its business travelers have been clamoring for this kind of convenience because they don't always have a computer available to check in online.

Now, they can check in via a cell phone and there is nothing to print.

"And the TSA has a scanner there and they will scan the barcode and it will tell the TSA whether the customer is good to go or if they have an issue, if they're attempting to travel on the wrong date or something like that," said Jeff Anderson, Alaska Airlines Director of Airport Technology.

In the end, Alaska Airlines hopes it will streamline that long line through security.

Alaska Airlines says there have been a few glitches during their test phase. Some of the scanners weren't reading the barcode correctly at first. They've tackled that problem. Alaska Airlines says the cell check in should be widely available to all customers sometime next year.

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