Boarding pass? Check.

Ads on boarding pass to help beleaguered airline industry pay for expensive fuel? Check.

Several major airlines will begin displaying ads on boarding passes for customers who check in from home. Customers can print the boarding passes without ads if they want.

Delta Air Lines began using the ads Tuesday for flights to Las Vegas. It will put the ads, which are sold by Sojern Inc., on all other domestic destinations soon afterward. Northwest, US Airways Group, Continental Airlines and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines have signed up and will begin using the ads in coming months, Sojern officials said.

The airlines own a minority stake in Sojern and will split revenue from the ads. None of the parties would say how much they expect to make. But Al Lenza, the vice president of distribution and e-commerce at Northwest Airlines, said 40 percent of his airline's check-ins happen at its Web site, adding up to as many as 30 million customers a year.

"I think this is going to be responsible for many millions of dollars for each airline," he said.

The boarding-pass ads are only the latest effort by airlines to raise cash to help offset soaring fuel costs. Many have cut jobs, reduced capacity and raised customer fees, including charging for a second checked bag.

This week American Airlines told employees it will cut 1,500 jobs in its maintenance division as it reduces its fleet of aircraft.

Travelers who check in from a home computer will see their boarding pass, along with information for their destination, including weather, restaurants and attractions in the city to which they are flying.

Sojern said it would keep the boarding pass to one printed page, the same as current ad-free boarding passes.

The company won't tailor the ads to individual customers yet, but it may do that in the future, said Gordon Whitten, the company's founder and chief executive. He said Sojern has been in contact with other airlines about selling boarding-pass ads.

The airlines said they have worked to make sure they don't annoy customers with the ads. Josh Weiss, managing director for Delta's Web site and self-service, said that's why airlines included the option to not print the ads and have made sure that the boarding pass will load quickly on customers' computers.

Sojern's board includes Jeffrey Katz, former CEO of travel booking Web site Orbitz, who is also a Northwest director.