PDA

View Full Version : A question about online check-in


InSeat19c
21st May 2012, 17:44
I always thought that checking-in was the airline's way of knowing someone was at the airport and not stuck in traffic on their way to the airport.

If someone checks-in online and does get stuck in traffic, how long is it before the airline assumes that person is not going to make it and re-allocates their seat ?

Also, what if so many passengers check-in online that the flight is considered full even before check-in opens ?

Does someone that has not checked-in online but has arrived in pleny of time get told the flight is full ?

BUGS/BEARINGS/BOXES
21st May 2012, 19:17
Many airlines and airports now have conformance checks. Take BA and T5 for example. You must have your boarding pass scanned at least 35 mins before departure. If you arrive after this cut off, you will be refused to go through security. Most, if not all European airports now have boarding pass scanners at security. When the load control department tried to update the zero fuel weight, pax number and baggage reconciliation for the flight, those who have checked in online, but not passed through security are noted. Therefore if no bags were checked in, and the passenger has not been logged as passing through security, the passenger is automatically offloaded at gate closure ( usually 15 mins before STD). Should bags have been checked in, obviously the individual is somewhere in the facility. In this case the bag is usually held aside at the aircraft before being loaded. This does not always happen, and hence delayed due to no-shows with checked in baggage that has been loaded.

Should a flight be overbooked, at a pre determined number, online checking stops processing, claiming an error etc, forcing passengers to checking at the desks. At this point frequent flyer, fare class and sequence number rules come into play along with asking for volunteers to be offloaded.

Hartington
21st May 2012, 22:04
I think you will find that online checkin is closed before all seats have been allocated to deal with what B/B/B describes (in case someone with a Gold card checks in at the airport, for instance).

InSeat19c
21st May 2012, 23:00
Thanks for the information guys.

So is not checking-in online and checking-in normally risky in terms of maybe not getting a seat ?

I'm thinking of those without the internet or access to it at certain times.

Tableview
22nd May 2012, 06:40
In addition to what has already been mentioned, there is a difference between the practices of LCCs and legacy carriers, as the former claim that they don't overbook, so that becomes irrelevant.

Heathrow Harry
25th May 2012, 16:19
ho ho ho - that would include Delta out of Houston for Atlanta last week who were asking for "volunteers" to step down 9 hours before departure when you used internet check-in............