Why bother with check-in?

[SimonM]

Reading about Tiger charging for check-in got me thinking about this again. I don't fly a lot domestically, so perhaps things are different, but I thought check-in was the physical act of turning up at the airport and being checked-in as having arrived and so assigned a seat.

If you OLCI a couple of days beforehand, what's the actual guarantee of making it to the airport on time or even at all? And since there's probably very little connection between the two events, why bother having it?

 

[JohnK]

Check-in could also involve the act of depositing luggage. I don't know about Tiger but I guess with QF and DJ one could also use a bag drop queue.

Another reason for airport check-in could be limited or no access to a computer for OLCI or even the ability to use a computer (computer illiterate) for OLCI.

 

[harvyk]

But as roopaw so rightly says, why bother having it at all...

I am also under the impression, that check in is effectively announcing to the airport that you have arrived and are ready to take your flight...

But considering with OLCI I can check in 24 hours prior to actually taking the flight, any number of things could happen in that time, from a heart attack to a car breaking down blocking off the roads to the airport which would stop me from actually making the flight.

Thus what is the point of actually checking in? (I'm not talking about bag drop) Why not simply assign a seat number on booking and then have the pax bring the ticket along to the gate to board? Various bus companies do just thus, no checking in, you just rock up at the door of the bus and show the driver the ticket, and he or she lets you on and you take your assigned seat... (Murray's CBR-SYD service certainly did this)

 

[SimonM]

I've been thinking more about this overnight (I know, I should have better things to ponder).

I'm sure that the LCCs don't actually care if you make to the plane or not. On cheap fares they get your money either way. In fact, if you don't turn up, they get more as they probably don't pass on the tax portion of the fare or refund you and also save a few drops of gas.

I'm travelling carry-on only on a regional flight tomorrow. I'll check-in at the airport using a terminal and the first airline employee I'll interact with will be the co-pilot checking my boarding pass. If I could OLCI today, before even getting into the country, why couldn't the boarding pass have been done when I purchased my ticket and assigned my seat?

 

[NM]

By checking-in, either physically at the airport or on-line, you are telling the airline that you intend to travel on that particular flight. Its a commitment to travel and depending on the fare rules, may mean you are no longer eligible for a refund or voluntary flight change.

So once you are checked-in using OLCI (and of course at that stage have not checked bags) the airline really does not care if you actually show up or not. They have your fare and your commitment to travel, s if you don't make it to the flight they may page you but will leave without you if you fail to board. And in some cases, they may even give away your seat to someone else if you fail to board and they have stand-by passengers they want to uplift.

The only time its a problem is if you have checked bags and you fail to board. Then they need to off-load the bags. But you have to be present at the airport to check bags, so failing to board is less likely.

 

[serfty]

With AirNZ domestic, once you book and are ticketed you are considered "checked in". If you have no luggage to check you simply need to be "At the Gate" within 20 minutes of flight departure time with a printed copy of your e-ticket.

Your e-ticket receipt has a bar-code which you scan at the gate on boarding, a boarding slip is then printed showing your seat number and other details.

 

[SimonM]

With AirNZ domestic, once you book and are ticketed you are considered "checked in". If you have no luggage to check you simply need to be "At the Gate" within 20 minutes of flight departure time with a printed copy of your e-ticket.

Your e-ticket receipt has a bar-code which you scan at the gate on boarding, a boarding slip is then printed showing your seat number and other details.

And it is AirNZ I'm travelling with, so I don't even need to worry about the machine.

Check-in-less travel is here!

 

[serfty]

FWIW, with AirNZ domestic, as a *GE I don't even need a printed copy of my e-ticket.

I simply need my RFID chip. Here's an image of my chip laying strategically on top of my WP card:

It's about 1½ times thicker than the WP card.

 

[SimonM]

That's pretty cool. I'll need quite a few more domestic hop-skip-jumps before I earn one.

 

[TweedleB]

With AirNZ domestic, once you book and are ticketed you are considered "checked in". If you have no luggage to check you simply need to be "At the Gate" within 20 minutes of flight departure time with a printed copy of your e-ticket.

Your e-ticket receipt has a bar-code which you scan at the gate on boarding, a boarding slip is then printed showing your seat number and other details.

I have travelled recently with JQ and CIOL. I was running late and arrived at the boarding gate just as the last person entered. Showed my down loaded boarding pass with barcode and proceeded directly to aircraft. I was always under the impression that you had to have some form of identity. It now seems with CIOL anyone could be travelling on that ticket. Am I right in assuming this:?:

 

[kamchatsky]

Actually for my past two flights on TT that I OLCIed, I had to show my ID before allowed to board on aircraft. So I think they are still learning about the process of OLCI.

Now that it costs money to checkin at airport you will see this procedure even more stringent.