Apple Wallet: These Airlines Are Joining Apple's Improved Boarding Passes
Will Flighty & Co. be redundant? Apple is making flight tickets smarter in its Wallet App. The First Participants on the Airline Side Have Now Been Determined.
Icon of Apple Wallet on an iPhone.
(Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock)
With iOS 26, Apple has revamped its Wallet app on the iPhone. In addition to new AI shopping features, this also applies to flying: boarding passes are now said to be smarter. However, this is only possible if the respective airline cooperates. The first airlines have already announced that they will support “refreshed boarding passes.”
Information from airline apps directly in the Wallet
The idea is to connect the respective boarding pass with live activities, as known from Flighty and an increasing number of airline apps themselves (e.g., KLM and Air France). This allows you to conveniently track the progress of a flight as a live activity in the Dynamic Island or on the Lock Screen. It's also new that you can share this information with friends and family.
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Furthermore, the new boarding passes also support other iOS features, such as direct access to maps for navigation on the airport premises or “Find My” for locating items or luggage. Also nice: Airlines can display parts of their app in Apple Wallet, as Apple reports, including the ability to purchase seat upgrades or join a standby list.
Lufthansa Joins In
It has not yet been announced when the introduction of the new boarding passes in Apple Wallet will generally start. So far, the service has only been partially implemented by United Airlines. Otherwise, only who else is participating in the first round has been announced. According to Apple, these are US airlines America, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest; Air Canada from Canada; Qantas Virgin Australia and Jetstar from Australia; and the Lufthansa Group (without specifying the respective brand) from Europe.
The first trials with United show what the new boarding passes will look like. There, a live activity is available at the touch of a button (it apparently doesn't start by default), the option to share the “Flight Tracker” with other people (who will then also see a live activity), and buttons for route guidance via Maps and tracking luggage in “Find My.” Changes to the flight cannot apparently be made directly in the Wallet with United. No information has yet been provided on how complex the implementation is. Apple provides details on updating Wallet passes on its developer website: Apple details on its developer website. Further details are available on a (currently still quite sparse) info website and a developer video. However, this covers all new features in Wallet for iOS 26.
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