Delta launches automatic check-in on its mobile app

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines Inc. signage is displayed as a traveler uses self check-in kiosk in Delta Air Lines Inc.

Checking in for a flight is going the way of the paper airplane ticket.

An updated version of Delta Air Lines’ iOS mobile app now checks travelers in for their flights automatically, a recent change the airline said was in response to customer demand.

Travelers now just have to click on the app and tap to acknowledge federal restrictions on banned items in luggage and a boarding pass will automatically generate, according to Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group. Harteveldt told CNBC he tried the feature on a flight to New York on Thursday.

Checking in for a flight is “a waste of the traveler’s time,” he said, adding that Delta is the only U.S. carrier to offer such a feature, though others may adopt the streamlined process.

It wasn’t yet clear how travelers will be able to tell the airline whether they planned on checking a bag, however.

Delta isn’t alone in testing out new processes to cut down on traveler, and airline, time. KLM earlier this year tested facial-scanning technology that could replace boarding passes, while JetBlue is experimenting with biometric scans for travelers boarding flights from Boston to Aruba.