Importance of email and text messages for travel

Your mobile phone helps make travelling safer

Thanks to its data connection, as well as the ability to make voice and video calls, your mobile phone can work as a communications hub for your trip.

As long as you have a network connection and data, you can stay in touch with your travel agent, with friends and family, accommodation suppliers, airlines, and of course emergency contacts.

Everyone uses email

Email is the default communication method for travel agents, hotels, and airlines, to communicate with guests and travellers.

But your agent, airline, or hotel, can also send you text messages via your phone’s SMS function.

Make sure you give them your mobile number so they can stay in contact via SMS while you’re travelling.

eSafety tip

To get text messages from people and businesses while travelling, your phone needs a network connection. For emails, it needs a data connection.

You can receive emails if you connect your phone to hotel Wi-Fi, but you can’t receive text messages without access to a network connection.

Receive travel documents via email

When a travel document, such as an itinerary or a boarding pass, is sent to your phone via email, you can view it in your email app.

When you tap on the attachment containing the document, it will appear on your screen. You can read it or show the screen to others. You can also save the attached document should you need to view it without access to your data connection.

Using a boarding pass sent to you via email

Many airlines now let you check in online, up to 24 hours before your flight departs. When you check in, the airline will send a boarding pass to you via email.

At the airport, you'll need to show your boarding pass to clear security and customs. To show your boarding pass, you can get out your phone and open the email app to find the boarding pass email from your airline.

Tap on the attachment, and the boarding pass will fill the screen. It will probably display a QR code (a square image made up of random shapes - similar to a barcode) that can be read by the airline's computers.

When asked at the boarding gate, you can hold the phone screen to a scanner to register your boarding pass and you can board your flight.

Saving documents to your phone

Sometimes, data connections and public Wi-Fi can be patchy at airports or other crowded locations. To navigate these connection issues, it’s a good idea to download and save your boarding pass to your device at home or from your hotel before you get to the airport.

This puts a copy of the document on the phone which you can view at any time, even if there is no reception or Wi-Fi.

This can be useful at airports where you need to transfer to another flight, so you won’t need to log in to public Wi-Fi, or pay roaming charges or buy a local SIM.

eSafety tip

It can be a good idea to print out your most important documents, if you can. This includes your itinerary and boarding passes too, if convenient.

This means even if your phone runs out of battery, you can still board your flight with the paper copy of the boarding pass.

Well done!

This is the end of the Importance of email and text messages for travel activity. You’ve discovered some of the ways email and text messages can help you travel safely and easily.

Another important aspect of travel is having easy access to your money, which we’ll look at next in the Accessing your finances while travelling activity.