Sun Country Airlines — finally — launches new digital app

The day has finally arrived: Sun Country Airlines has a mobile app for the first time in more than half a decade.

Sun Country passengers can now check in to their flights, open a digital boarding pass and book flights all in one digital app. The Minneapolis-based carrier on Wednesday made it available for download in the Apple store and Google Play store for use on iOS and Android devices.

The airline joins the ranks of other airlines offering a streamlined digital product to help automate the flying experience.

“The feedback we were getting from our customers was really around the day of travel,” said Colton Snow, Sun Country’s chief marketing officer. “It’s really about that day of travel experience, starting from check-in through getting off the plane.”

Sun Country had a digital app at one point, but mothballed it in 2017. The company began developing this new app in 2023, Snow said.

Functions on Sun Country’s app are similar to that of other airlines, including checking in remotely up to 24 hours before departure time and managing trips. Travelers will also be able to upgrade or change seats using the app and track their rewards points.

The app does not yet allow users to track their luggage or provide geolocation functions that help travelers navigate airports, though a company spokesperson said the airline is looking into adding gate information in the future. The airline will make improvements and updates to the app based on how it’s used by customers, Snow said.

“This is version one of the app,” he said. “We’ll continue to invest and build out the app as well as our website and the rest of our digital ecosystem.”

The app is the latest product to emerge from Sun Country’s research and development pipeline of new digital products, Snow said. In the past four years, the airline has launched a new reservation platform and website to improve booking and trip management. Last year the company launched an automated and self-service system where people experiencing flight cancellations or delays could receive digital hotel and meal vouchers, refunds or choose an alternative flight.

Those type of features can free up some of the airlines’ customer service centers, since passengers won’t have to tie up phone lines, queue at reservation desks or flood the website in order to switch their travel plans, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.

Not having an app, though, was “a point of friction” relative to other options people have for travel, Snow said.

“We think this is overall improving the customer experience,” he said.

Sun Country reported net income of $35.3 million on revenue of $311 million for its recent first quarter, a 7.9% decrease in net income compared with the same quarter in 2023.