B737 captain reported receiving a low altitude alert from ATC on approach to bos when their altimete...

Narrative:

Flight to bos; with check airman on jumpseat giving me a line check; I was pilot flying. First officer could not get arrival ATIS on ACARS so he went on radio number two to copy ATIS. He wrote 30.37 as bos altimeter; did the performance calculations for landing and we did descent and approach checklists. When we checked-in with approach; we all heard ATC say 'altimeter 30.36'; first officer read back altimeter 30.36 so we set that. We didn't know we had the wrong altimeter; ATC did not correct us; and the check airman didn't notice it either. While on base; being vectored for the ILS 22L in VFR; approach called 'low altitude alert; say altitude'. First officer read back; '3;000 feet; say current altimeter'. ATC said '30.06'; 'we show you at 2;700 feet.' I immediately corrected altitude to 3;000 feet; and set the correct altimeter. None of us on the flight deck ever knew it was anything different than 30.36; but ATC never corrected our read backs; so we did not realize we had a problem.when not getting ATIS on ACARS; we need to both verify altimeter setting; or verify it with ATC; not depend on ATC to correct us.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported receiving a low altitude alert from ATC on approach to BOS when their altimeter was mis-set because of a communication breakdown.

Narrative: Flight to BOS; with Check Airman on jumpseat giving me a line check; I was pilot flying. FO could not get arrival ATIS on ACARS so he went on radio number two to copy ATIS. He wrote 30.37 as BOS altimeter; did the performance calculations for landing and we did descent and approach checklists. When we checked-in with Approach; we all heard ATC say 'altimeter 30.36'; FO read back altimeter 30.36 so we set that. We didn't know we had the wrong altimeter; ATC did not correct us; and the Check Airman didn't notice it either. While on base; being vectored for the ILS 22L in VFR; Approach called 'Low altitude alert; say altitude'. FO read back; '3;000 feet; say current altimeter'. ATC said '30.06'; 'we show you at 2;700 feet.' I immediately corrected altitude to 3;000 feet; and set the correct altimeter. None of us on the flight deck ever knew it was anything different than 30.36; but ATC never corrected our read backs; so we did not realize we had a problem.When not getting ATIS on ACARS; we need to both verify altimeter setting; or verify it with ATC; not depend on ATC to correct us.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1318694
Time
Date	201512
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	BOS.Airport
State Reference	MA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 116
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

B737 captain reported receiving a low altitude alert from ATC on approach to bos when their altimeter was mis-set because of a communication breakdown.