BA check in question?

[jack_essex]

Hi everyone,

I'll be flying with British Airways from Heathrow to New York JFK next month and would like to know if anyone has used the online check in for American flights? I have already selected our seats so know that is not a problem but is it better to check in online rather than at the airport? If you check in online will you still be issued with a boarding pass at the airport or will the one you print out at home be the only one?

Thanks

Jack

[EI-CFC]

OLCI is quite handy - takes a lot of the pressure off you, and means an easier time at the airport when you arrive. The home printed boarding pass is all you need for this route - so you can go straight to security with it.

[Globaliser]

I'll be flying with British Airways from Heathrow to New York JFK next month and would like to know if anyone has used the online check in for American flights? I have already selected our seats so know that is not a problem but is it better to check in online rather than at the airport? If you check in online will you still be issued with a boarding pass at the airport or will the one you print out at home be the only one?Some personal hints for this, from experience:-

Long before you get to the -24 hour point when OLCI opens, make sure that all your Advanced Passenger Information is complete. Otherwise, you will spend ages doing this when you're trying to OLCI, and others may be grabbing any choice seats that happen to be available right at the moment that it opens for you. Don't try to do this just before you OLCI, either, because that tends to open a server session on the BA computers that doesn't include OLCI as an option, which will again delay the time at which you can actually access OLCI.

If you are able to get to a computer at exactly 24 hours before departure, go to a screen where you can enter your booking reference and surname to access your booking. Type in those details but then wait. Double click on the time in the tray in the bottom right hand corner of your taskbar (if you're using Windows) to get the clock showing. As soon as the second hand has reached the top of the clock to reach -24 hours, click the button that allows you to access your booking, then go straight to "check-in online", and then to the seat selection screen if it will let you. It helps if you have an idea which other seats you might want to grab. If something better shows up on the display, change seats quickly before someone else gets in there.

If the flight is busy, though, or someone is working on it or yet to work on it, then you may not be able to look at the seat map and you should get the seats you've pre-allocated. This does not prevent you from going back into the OLCI system later to see whether the seat map has come live, and change your seats then if you wish, so long as you do not print your own boarding pass.

Do not print your own boarding pass, even if offered, because once you do that you will no longer have access to the OLCI system, nor will you be able to use the self-service kiosks. I also hate waving a piece of A4 paper around when the card boarding passes are so much easier to use. And your home-printed boarding pass is just another bit of paper to lose en-route - the whole idea of e-tickets is to prevent you from losing anything important between home and airport. If you do lose your home-printed boarding pass, there is no alternative but to go to a desk and ask a human for a duplicate.

When you get to the airport, I'd suggest picking up your boarding pass from a self-service machine and asking the machine for a ticket receipt when offered. This is printed on a handy ATB (boarding pass) size card so it's easier to show to US immigration if they ask to see it. Flimsy bits of A4 paper are more difficult to manage (see above). The check-in desks don't always have the card stock to print these on, although things should be better now that they're not having to print catering vouchers on them. The machine will very probably want you to insert the credit card that you bought the ticket with, if you booked directly with BA on the Internet, but as you should be asked to show this at some stage during your trip through the airport, this will do the trick.

After you've picked up your boarding pass, you can then drop any bags at the Fast Bag Drop desk.

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

Flew to the US on BA over the weekend.

Using OLCI means you can enter your US immigration details with BA, saving you doing them at the departure airport.

[jack_essex]

Thank you for all your help.

Globaliser, your tips have been very useful. I will log on 24 hours before and check in online. I wasn't sure that if i checked in online i wouldnt be issued with a real boarding pass at the airport (which i want). I have already entered the security information, and selected our seats online through the ba.com website.

So just to clarify,

I will check in online 24 hours before my flight time, but not print the boarding pass out. I will get to the airport and then use a self service check in desk to print out my boarding pass.

What i really want to do is check in online to save the worry at the airport, but still be issued with a proper boarding pass at a self service check in desk.

Thanks

[EI-CFC]

Yes, you can do it the way Globaliser outlined.

[Globaliser]

So just to clarify,

I will check in online 24 hours before my flight time, but not print the boarding pass out. I will get to the airport and then use a self service check in desk to print out my boarding pass.Yes, that's exactly it. It's not really quite what BA would like you to do, and I know that other people prefer to print out their own BP at home, but this is the way that I prefer it.

Occasionally, you'll find that you can't get the self-service machine to print the BP, but then a check-in desk will be able to do it instead. But most of the time, the machine works perfectly well. You can actually have a last go at seeing for yourself if there are better seats to change to at that point - I think I forgot to mention that earlier.

[jack_essex]

Thanks, that has been a great help. I know it's strange but i really like to have a proper boarding pass when I'm flying. It doesn't seem 'official' to have an A4 piece of paper to prove you are on the flight.

Jack

[apaddyinuk]

Just please remember that if you are going to print your own boarding pass....please make sure that you are not carrying a crazy amount of handbaggage with you as it will be the first thing the boarding staff look at when they are handed the printed out boarding pass!!! You can still check in your luggage at the "fastbag drop" desks.

[jack_essex]

Hi,
I was due to be flying to New York next weekend but have now had to change my trip to this Saturday. The replies to my first post have been great but I have one more question...

I have managed to select our seats on the LHR-JFK sector but on the JFK-LHR leg was unable to do this as booked at the last minute. As I have already selected our seats for Saturday is there any point checking in online?

For the return journey, I will check in online 24 hours before my flight time, select our seats, but not print out the boarding pass (I want to get a real boarding pass and not the A4 print out you would get at home). I will then go to the airport and use a self service check in, or manual check in desk to get the 'real' boarding pass. This makes it sound as if the online check in is pointless, but I want to gaurantee we have our selected seats.

When I am checking in online and it tells me to print the boarding pass out, what do I do? Do I just leave the whole process or is there an option to collect your boarding pass at the airport?

Sorry if this sounds a stupid question, its just I am beginning to panic!

[Final 3 Greens]

Jack

It will ask if you wish to print your own boarding pass.

Just decline that.

And if the self service machine at LHR doesn't cooperate, go straight to the fast bag drop and they will print your pass there, as you are already checked in .... don't queue up for ages for the normal desks.

[jack_essex]

Hi,

Thanks for your help Final 3 Greens. I wasn't sure what to do when I got to that stage. I was worried if it said 'Please print your boarding pass now' and I didn't becasue I want to collect it at the airport. I don't like the thought of an A4 boarding pass. It doesn't quite seem official really does it.

Now ive got that sorted out, I'll check in online and just click decline to printing it out at home.

I'll write a flight report when I get back home next week.

[Globaliser]

I have managed to select our seats on the LHR-JFK sector but on the JFK-LHR leg was unable to do this as booked at the last minute. As I have already selected our seats for Saturday is there any point checking in online?There is, even if you have already chosen your seats. The benefits are only marginal, but they include the ability to change your seats if better seats are offered to you when you OLCI than the ones you already have - so it's always worth having a quick look.When I am checking in online and it tells me to print the boarding pass out, what do I do? Do I just leave the whole process or is there an option to collect your boarding pass at the airport?I don't remember ever seeing an option to positively decline to print my own boarding pass. When you have checked in, you will see a confirmation screen that gives you your flight time, seat allocation, etc. It then offers you the chance to print your own boarding pass, with a big red button to do so. If you don't want to print your own boarding pass, do not click this. Instead, just print that confirmation page if you can (as an aide memoire, not an official document), then go to the bottom of the page and click the "Exit" link in the bottom left hand corner.

This also gives you the option of going back to OLCI and checking-in again if you want to see if any better seats have come up later.

If for some reason you mess this up and end up printing a boarding pass, I'm sure that a check-in agent at the airport will happily replace this with a "real" one.