Tag: technology

I Paid for Family Passes. Vail Made Them Unusable. How to Turn a Ski Day Into a Support Ticket

I didn’t expect buying ski passes for my family to turn into a software obstacle course, but here we are. Northstar/Vail’s “Mobile Pass” is an utter and complete piece of crap.

The whole point of a mobile pass is simple: I buy passes for family members → I share them → we go skiing. That’s it. Not “install an app, create an account, fight a broken UI, and then call support because it can’t find the pass you literally just paid for.”

Here’s the reality of the “share pass” experience:

The “Share Pass” Flow From Hell

I try the app’s brilliant idea: “Share pass via text message.” Sounds easy, right?

Nope.

The person receiving the text has to:

  1. Download the app
  2. Create a profile
  3. Find the “Find Pass” option
  4. Enter the pass number (or the order number)
  5. Get slapped with: “Unable to find the account. Call support.”

So let me get this straight: I paid real money, for real passes, for real people… and your “sharing” feature ends with “call support” like it’s 2009?

That’s not a feature. That’s a bug with marketing copy.

This Isn’t “Premium.” It’s Amateur Hour.

Vail loves charging “premium” prices while shipping “free trial” software. If your pass system can’t reliably associate a purchased pass with the person it’s intended for, then the system is broken—full stop.

And yes, I’m going to say it plainly: this app feels like it was built by the lowest bidder and never properly tested in the real world. Not tested with families. Not tested with normal humans. Not tested with the most basic scenario: “I bought multiple passes and need to distribute them.”

Vail, Fix Your Garbage.

F**k you, Vail. F**k you very much.

You’re a public company. Act like one. Because right now this feels like textbook mismanagement from a company in decline (MTN: roughly ~-50% over 5 years).

Screenshot

Stop hiding behind shiny branding while your customers waste time troubleshooting your junk. When people are trying to get their kids out the door in the morning, nobody wants to play “guess which number the app will reject today.”

What You Should Do (The Obvious Fixes)

Here are a few wild ideas from planet Earth:

  • Let me assign each pass to a person at checkout (name + DOB + email/phone).
  • Let me share a pass with a single tap using a real invite link that actually works.
  • Let family members accept the pass without needing a scavenger hunt inside the app.
  • Provide a working fallback: printable QR code, Apple Wallet / Google Wallet, or even a web portal that doesn’t suck.

Because right now the “Mobile Pass” isn’t mobile. It’s not a pass. It’s barely software.

Vail: fix your crappy app. And stop treating customers like unpaid QA testers.