Travel app makes getting to Heathrow Airport more convenient.

It’s amazing how in such a short period of time, mobile technology has made traveling so much more convenient. While regulations over the last couple years have often made it more cumbersome to travel, Blackberry, Droid and iPhone apps have helped us better plan and manage our travels. A new British app represents a change in the mobile landscape, which will make it even easier to travel.

The new travel app is called Heathrow Express. While most of the popular travel apps today consist of travel planning and management, such as managing your flights or finding nearby restaurants, this app raises the ante by allowing users to buy and receive train tickets straight to their phone. What does that mean? It means no standing in lines or paper tickets.

As you can probably guess, the app is solely for people traveling between London and Heathrow Airport. Users can enter their card information into the app and pay directly for their train tickets. After paying, you receive a bar code and reference number. There’s no need to stand in line or receive a paper ticket, as on-board staff can scan your 2-D ticket from your phone. It saves not only time, but also money, since it uses online rates, which are often cheaper than buying a ticket in person.

Many travelers are probably skeptical about using such an app because of privacy and security, but the Heathrow Express mobile app uses high-level data encryption for security. While users can choose to store their card details for future purchases, it’s not a requirement, plus the three-digit security code is never stored and required each time a user purchases tickets. The app also is accredited and compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

While the app has just been released, it’s too early to tell how useful it will be. It’s a simple app that doesn’t do much more than book and download train tickets, however, I love the idea behind it. Technology like this could really save time for frequent travelers, especially for the person who cuts it close every time they travel.

Photo from Mattbuck4950 on Flickr.