Vail announces plans to store your pass or lift ticket on your phone.

[ski diva]

Vail Resorts announced today that it plans to introduce a new technology that'll allow guests to store their pass or lift ticket directly on their phone, eliminating the need to carry a plastic card, visit the ticket window, or wait to receive a pass or lift ticket in the mail. Guests will be able to buy their pass or lift ticket online, activate it on their phone, put their phone in their pocket, and get scanned, hands free, using Bluetooth.

The new feature will be tested during the 2022/23 North American winter season, with roll-out to guests expected for the 2023/24 season.

 

[MissySki]

Vail Resorts announced today that it plans to introduce a new technology that'll allow guests to store their pass or lift ticket directly on their phone, eliminating the need to carry a plastic card, visit the ticket window, or wait to receive a pass or lift ticket in the mail. Guests will be able to buy their pass or lift ticket online, activate it on their phone, put their phone in their pocket, and get scanned, hands free, using Bluetooth.

The new feature will be tested during the 2022/23 North American winter season, with roll-out to guests expected for the 2023/24 season.

What could possible go wrong..? No one's cellphone ever dies in the cold or anything.. lol

 

[marzNC]

Apparently already installed a few "phone ready" gates at Perisher for the 2022 season. But didn't have customers using the phone access function.

Can't possibility phase out RFID cards aka Epic cards. What parent is going to give a 6yo doing ski lessons a phone just for lift access?

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

I do not have a smart phone, only a flip phone with no data plan as cell phones work poorly on the downtown block where I live so I mostly use my nearly 50 year old landline!

 

[sibhusky]

I resisted smartphones for years. Same with my husband. If they hadn't ended 3G (? or was it 2G) we'd still be using them just for battery life alone.

 

[sibhusky]

What parent is going to give a 6yo doing ski lessons a phone just for lift access?

Definitely not me. Maybe if they were 12.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

I resisted smartphones for years. Same with my husband. If they hadn't ended 3G (? or was it 2G) we'd still be using them just for battery life alone.

Even my 5G is not a smart phone and has no internet or texting. Wouldn't work at my home anyway so there's no point in me paying monthly for what I can't use here!!!!! I mainly use my landline of going on 50 years!

 

[MissySki]

Even my 5G is not a smart phone and has no internet or texting. Wouldn't work at my home anyway so there's no point in me paying monthly for what I can't use here!!!!! I mainly use my landline of going on 50 years!

As long as you have wifi you can use the phone without reception still.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

Nope, no wi-fi on it either.

 

[MissySki]

Nope, no wi-fi on it either.

I meant with a more updated phone.

 

[mustski]

A lot if ski resorts have intermittent reception or only have reception for some carriers. Wifi us sketchy at best outside if the lodge. This should be interesting!

 

[marzNC]

From comments I've seen elsewhere, using a smartphone instead of an Epic RFID card will be an option, not a requirement. For people using an Epic pass to pay for food and other stuff, using their phone might be easier. Especially if they are already using Apple Pay or another payment method from their phone instead of a plastic card.

 

[santacruz skier]

A lot if ski resorts have intermittent reception or only have reception for some carriers. Wifi us sketchy at best outside if the lodge. This should be interesting!

SO TRUE

 

[teppaz]

SO TRUE

Yeah, I had zero reception at A-Basin and I was told only some carriers work there (I'm with Sprint/T-Mobile, which clearly was not among the lucky ones).

 

[altagirl]

Nope, no wi-fi on it either.

I would not have guessed there were 5G phones that aren't wifi calling capable. You do have to enable it (most don't come with wifi calling enabled). But there are so many models out there, I have no idea...

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

I would have to pay monthly for a "data plan", which since unless I'm out of town, I don't even turn it on, would be a waste most months...

 

[Jilly]

I would have to pay monthly for a "data plan", which since unless I'm out of town, I don't even turn it on, would be a waste most months...

No, @altagirl is talking about wifi, not data. I'm using wifi from my modem to use this laptop right now. I also do it with my phone during the day at work. Many "coffee shops" or "internet cafes" have it. We have free wifi at the local Marina and at some restaurants in town. But yes you would have to enable it. My phone has it as a pull down menu on the main page.

But that's not going to help with a lift ticket on my phone, unless the resort has it everywhere. Not liking that idea at all. They could really track you then.

 

[altagirl]

No, @altagirl is talking about wifi, not data. I'm using wifi from my modem to use this laptop right now. I also do it with my phone during the day at work. Many "coffee shops" or "internet cafes" have it. We have free wifi at the local Marina and at some restaurants in town. But yes you would have to enable it. My phone has it as a pull down menu on the main page.

But that's not going to help with a lift ticket on my phone, unless the resort has it everywhere. Not liking that idea at all. They could really track you then.

Right, it definitely would not require a data plan to use wifi calling. You'd be making calls over whatever wifi is available instead of using the cell phone coverage. That could be your home wifi, a wifi connection at a coffee shop, or indeed at a resort. In that sense it's almost the opposite of using a data plan. For that, you have to have a connection to your cell phone provider's signal. To use wifi, you are connecting to the internet instead and connecting a call through that.

I would expect that if they are doing lift tickets on phones, they'd have wifi hotspots at the lifts so it would work. If not, it's kind of a silly plan.... Definitely good that it's optional though. But also nice for the days you forgot your pass at home!

 

[mustski]

But… many ski resorts have no Wi-Fi reception outside of the lodge and poor reception within. 5G is only useful if there is a 5G network nearby. I live in a mountain town. There are 3 roads to take you down the mountain. All 3 have Verizon coverage but only one has T-Mobile. The ski resorts only get Verizon coverage.

 

[sibhusky]

Coverage on the back side here for cellphones is non-existent below Caribou as it crosses from east to west, even with Verizon, which I used to have and is the "best" carrier, coverage area-wise for CALLS. (Separate topic is 4g, 5g, etc.) However, the base ends of most of the lifts must now have WiFi, as my Google Fi phone, which uses T-Mobile, which has inferior calling coverage, works down at the base lift stations. It's using the WiFi to send and receive calls and texts. It won't work about 100 feet or so up the lift until you get to the halfway point, but it works near the base. I'm sure it's something to do with the ticket scanners.