What does "checked in" mean?

[Dairyground]

Many years ago checkin was something that happened at the airport not long before your flight was due to take off. The passenger assured the airline that they were physically present and ready to go. More recently, the person at the other side of the desk asked you as part of the process whether you were intending to carry anything nasty on board. if everything was in order, you received a boarding pass and were marked "present" in the register.

Now we are encouraged, very strongly encouraged in some cases, to check in and print our boarding pass at home, breaking the link between being checked in and being present at the airport.

If you can print one copy of a boarding pass at home, why not print several copies. In my family we had at one time three members with identical names, say "Fred Brown". What would happen if they made one booking, but printed three boarding passes, and then turned up separately at the airport with valid passports and other identification documents in the name under which the booking had been made. Assume a flight where seats are not assigned in advance and is likely to be no more than about two thirds full. Would all three be able to travel for one fare? My family couldn't do it now, sine two of the three "Fred Brown"s are long deceased, but I'm sure that a similar scenario cold be created without too much bother.

I suppose the machine-readable patch on the boarding pass could be, and very probably is, used to prevent such schemes, but what if a bit of judicious creasing and crumpling makes the code unreadable.

[PAXboy]

It is true that 'online check-in' is now much the same as the old 'confirmation of intent to travel' was but it is in two parts and the second is actual check-in. Eventhough they may happen at the same time! And, if you're on FR, you can check in for the return sector before you have even departed (leave alone arrived!) at your destination ...

Without knowing, but having been in IT for 25+ years, the bar code (be it the 1D or 2D type) will say a lot more about you than your name.

[flyblue]

In short, your reservation has a number, that after check in will show as "already checked in" in the system. If the second Fred turned up, the anomaly would be immediately spotted.

[MidmarMile]

Flyblue, I don't think the query related to attempted multiple check-ins, but rather whether it is possible to have multiple boardings on a single online check-in.

eg. My name is John Smith. I book, pay & check-in online, but I print the boarding pass twice (for seat 21C). My father is also John Smith. We each use one of the printed boarding passes, could we both get onto the plane?

I know that in SA this would be picked up at the gate, as the gate operators verify each passenger for boarding and the system would reject the second John Smith in 21C.

Online check-in also raises other queries. DG highlighted the difference between being at the airport (traditional check-in) and not being physically at the airport (online check-in).

What happens if the carrier has oversold the flight? Will the extra 5% be "bumped" electronically?
What % of pax check-in, but don't arrive? Do these seats get given to stand-by pax?

[lexxity]

You can't user the barcode more than once at security, it rejects you at that point.
Also each passenger is assigned a specific boarding number, if you tried to use the same one more than once it would show up that fred bloggs is already checked in/boarded show who are you?

The barcode also allows the gate agent at our place to see if the passenger has actually passed through security, so as to speed up the offload (and reallocate procedure).

Hope this helps.

[radeng]

The system could still fall over. Someone gets the booking code, prints the boarding pass and turns up as John Smith - actually being called John Smith and having the ID. The real John Smith turns up later, and who is to say which is the one who really is the correct pax? Especially if the real one was travelling on a ticket paid for by a travel agent. It's an unlikely scenario, but with common names, could cause absolute chaos, especially when the number of check in staff have been reduced. Do the systems accecpt multiple pax with the same names - say three or for totally unrelated John Smiths on the same flight?

[ExXB]

I believe the systems will look for not just one or two common entries (First/Last Name) but for quite a number. I remember, years ago, that our system looked for a telephone number (even with slight mismatched names) as being a critical element. (We were flight firming, in the days when duplicate bookings were much more prevalent).

Since a home-printed boarding card is usually just a pdf file anyone with Acrobat Pro or lots of cheap / freeware alternatives can change the name to match the id that they have - no need for similar/same names to accomplish this. But as mentioned the airlines systems shouldn't let a duplicate sequence number board. Such efforts will only get someone through security and ...

There are other ways to do this it that's the goal - simply walk up to the ticket desk, buy the most expensive (refundable) ticket for any flight. Get a boarding card, go through security and there you are. Apparently journalists have been doing this for years so they can pounce on their subjects at the gate. Once their pouncing is over - they tell the airline they have changed their mind and get a full refund.

[Gibon2]

The wonders of PPRuNe: looked like it actually happened in Australia pretty much while you were typing your question:

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-reporting-points/391177-identifying-passengers-requirements-aus.html

[flyblue]

Flyblue, I don't think the query related to attempted multiple check-ins, but rather whether it is possible to have multiple boardings on a single online check-in.
It's not what I meant. As lexxity has explained better than I did, as Mr X has checked in/boarded, his status on the system will show as checked in/boarded, and your code rejected. An attempt to re-check in/re-board by a second person would be immediately spotted. In case of 2 different people showing up with same boarding pass and same name, I think the Credit Card used to pay the ticket could be a proof.

[radeng]

Trouble is, flyblue, if the company travel agent booked it, one doesn't have the credit card. Or if the card has been changed - I've booked and paid for, on my credit card, a flight with BA next May. I am informed by the CC that the card will be withdrawn in January, as the agreement between RBS and American Airlines is ending. So I won't have the card that paid in my possession.....

Now if there were enough ground staff, and if we didn't have an industry where costs, customer service, employee pay and benefits (but not management 'reward') are busy going down like a dropped house brick, together with customers whose whole idea is to save a penny here and there, things might be different.....

[gdiphil]

OK at this point a little levity on all this computer stuff. Years ago, it was Easter 1979 and I checked in for a SQ flight to LHR. I was travelling in Y and I absolutely had to fly as I was attending my sister's wedding the next day. In those days the checkin staff took the paper ticket (don't you just miss those?) and gave me a boarding pass with a sticker on it from the board behind her with the seat number on it. (So simple, why did they change that?) I was sitting at a window exit on a 747. I boarded as soon as I could given my anxiety to make sure I was going. I sat down. Now, for arguments sake my name is Mr John Smith, and there it was on the ticket and the boarding pass. Up comes another young white guy who says I am sitting in his seat. No way am I moving. Cabin crew come up and inspect my boarding pass and his, and low and behold his name is Mr John Smith. Difference is I'm travellling on a British passport, he on an Aussie one. I remain firmly sitting. My namesake is asked to wait a moment. Back comes the crew member and says Mr Smith will have a seat in First! You can imagine the look of victory on that guy's face. But I made the wedding.