News

Beam them up! Air Canada travelers can use kiosk to get info to their handhelds

March 12, 2003

TORONTO -- Palm Canada and Air Canada have introduced a "Beam & Fly" station, a kiosk that allows travelers to beam up-to-the-minute flight schedules, destination guides, world news, sports briefs and airport maps into their Palm handheld computers, in the Air Canada Domestic Maple Leaf lounge at Pearson International Airport.

Using beaming technology developed by Bluefish Wireless, users can download a specially developed Air Canada portal, in either English or French, to their Palm handhelds, complete with a variety of customized links to browse with the look and feel of Web sites.

According to a news release, the Air Canada portal will feature daily updates of news and summaries of Canadian and international newspapers, provided by CyberPresse and The Globe & Mail; flight information and scheduling, including arrivals, departures, terminals, gates and delays, as well as special holiday and vacation promotions; maps for services, shopping and other facilities at airports and terminals; and destination guides for Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal provided by Envoyage.

Also included will be an Air Canada customer survey that will help determine what services should be included in future Information centers. Customers who fill out the survey will have the chance to win a Palm Tungsten T handheld.

Eventually, the Beam & Fly stations will be available in airports across Canada, according to the release.

"Palm handhelds complement existing lounge technology and are a perfect fit for our business travelers who need up-to-the-minute access to flight and destination information," said Pierre Bourbonniere, Air Canada's manager, Airport Products, in the release.

"As one of the world's most prominent cities, Toronto is an excellent starting point for what we hope will become a global standard in travel technology," said Michael Moskowitz, president of Palm Canada.