American Airlines releases Apple iPhone app

American Airlines wants to make it easier for you to travel and the company has just released an app for the Apple iPhone which will also include a mobile boarding pass capability.

It’s not the first airline to release an Apple iPhone app, but the American Airlines app allows you to book and check-in for flights, view terminal maps, track your elite status program, check your flight status, the aforementioned boarding pass capability and a whole lot more.

“The app is the latest in a series of customer technologies we’ve introduced to help improve the customer experience, and we are developing immersion apps for a wide range of other mobile devices. In fact, mobility is at the heart of much of what we are implementing today to dramatically improve our customers’ interaction with American – from Mobile Boarding to the many portable technologies our employees are equipped with,” Monte Ford, American’s Senior VP – Information Technology and CIO, in a prepared statement. “We are leveraging leading technology tools to bring the best information and experiences to our customers.”

So, I’ve had two experiences with a mobile boarding pass and it was definitely a mixed bag. Both times were on Continental Airlines and with my Motorola Droid and the first time was smooth sailing – I waltzed through the security line and it scanned my pass with ease. The second time I had to check bags anyways, so I didn’t save time. The checker at the line also didn’t seem to know what I was trying to do with my mobile boarding pass, and I had to scan the pass four times before it worked.

The ease and convenience of the mobile boarding pass idea is evident but the execution still leaves a lot to be desired. What’s your experience with a mobile boarding pass? Let us know in the comments.

– Download American Airlines for iPhone, iPod Touch (free) [iTunes Link]