Best Airline Innovation

An airline that reserves the right to think ahead.

• Best of America

Go to your airline's website up to 24 hours before departure, select your seat, and print out a boarding pass. At the airport, with just carry-on bags, go straight to the gate; otherwise, check luggage at the curb. Alaska Airlines, based in Seattle, Washington, was the first to use online check-in; today many other airlines offer it.

From Reader's Digest - May 2005