Check in & get boarding passes at Home - Any good?

[BobH]

I recently noticed that I can "check in" and get a boarding pass from my home. This is with American Airlines and I had an electronic ticket. I also have read Delta and US Airways have done this also. You print your boarding pass on your own printer. Check your bags at curbside and take your home printed boarding pass through security and go directly to the gate. Has anyone done this yet? What do you think of it? Any problems? I once had my Delta seat assignment messed up.Two different passengers were assigned to the same seat. I had chosen my seat online at Delta's site.

 

[kendall]

I've used electronic check-in many times on Northwest. I've also used Delta's electronic check-in. Now the airlines even have a specific area of the check-in counter to use when checking in online that has always been a shorter line here in MI (or you can simply check curbside if you prefer). Easy to do, and the option to change seats has been available when checking in online. I've never had an issue with duplicate seats. I enjoy the convenience, and I get bonus miles for doing so....

 

[goofy4tink]

My dh does this when he flies out of Logan into Atlanta. He hasn't had any problems so far. We are planning on doing it when we fly to MCO in Aug. I figure that's when it will get screwed up...when I'm there with a 9 y/o!!!!!!! The Delta customer service I spoke with last week highly recommended that we do it that way. We'll see.

 

[BobH]

I'm heading to OKW the second week of February from Logan Airport in Boston maybe I'll try the early check in. I believe it is available to me with American as long as it is within 12 hours of the flight. Getting additional frequent flyer miles interests me. Hopefully American offers this as well as Delta. Thank you goofy4tink and Kendall.

 

[mickey4ver]

We did this on a recent trip to AZ with Northwest. It was fine leaving from our east coast airport, they had sidewalk checkin, all went well. On the return trip, we printed out everything and get to Sky Harbor airport, and NW doesn't have anyone maning their sidewalk checkin booth, so it was inside and had to wait in line.

It really wasn't a big deal, but it is the idea it is supposed to save you from standing in the line inside at the counter. Boarding passes worked fine though and no problems boarding, getting through security or anything, I recommend it.

 

[seashoreCM]

Printing my boarding pass at home worked fine. I didn't have any luggage needing to be checked. Not sure whether some airlines don't allow at home checkin with luggage to check. But I couldn't find anywhere convenient at or near WDW to print out the return trip boarding pass.

Mickey4ver was just unlucky that day, the curbside checkin was closed forcing an inside inline checkin.

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[mickey4ver]

Actually, the gal at the ticket counter just looked at the boarding pass we had printed out, and went from there, no issue. If for any reason you have to get into the line at the counter, you are supposed to inform them you have an already printed out boarding pass, so that we did, and she just checked it all and handed it back to us.

I think for the most part the airlines offering the on- line check in let you do so even if you have luggage and want to take advantage of the curbside checkin. When we went to print out the passes, the NW site informed us that both our airports had curbside service available.

 

[BobH]

If there are problems finding a computer to print a boarding pass for the return flight I wonder if you could use one of the kiosks or booths in the terminal and get your boarding pass by using your credit card. I have heard of this method also but have never used it.

 

[mickey4ver]

I can't honestly answer, cause I don't know, but I saw quite a few people out at Sky Harbor going to the kiosks for boarding passes. I don't know what info the machines ask of you before they will issue a pass to you.

Again, it may be airline specific also. Like Northwest has 30 hours before your flight you can go online and print out a pass, but Delta is like only 6 hours ahead of time. I guess each airline would have the info on their web sites.

I figured most people using the kiosks are those without checked luggage, but then again, I've not researched. I remember last year hearing an agent in the Delta line telling people to go to the kiosks for quicker service instead of waiting in the line. So, perhaps someone who has used one of them can fill us in! I'm curious now, so I'll probably do a little research myself

 

[SamR]

You can use the Delta kiosk even if you have checked luggage. One of the panels that comes up asks how many bags you have to check so that it can print the luggage labels. At most airports, there will be a dedicated point near the kiosk where you then take your luggage and a Delta agent will tag it and put it on the conveyor.

You can use the kiosk by inserting any major credit card. (If you are a Delta frequent flyer, you can instead type in your SkyMiles number & pin.) It uses the credit card just to establish your identity, and then it can pull up your itinerary, giving you the option to choose/change your seat assignment, check baggage, etc.

At some airports, the kiosks have become so popular that the lines for them are competitive with the regular check-in lines!

On Delta's web site, they actually have a pretty good "demo" that you can walk through that takes you through what you will see when you use the kiosk. The demo can be found at:

Delta Check-in Kiosk Demo

 

[mickey4ver]

Thanks Sam, that was good info!

 

[sgtdisney]

We recently flew to and from Ft. Lauderdale on American. I just used the curbside baggage check in here at ORD as well as at FLL. I was tempted to print out the bording passes, but I read on the American website where it says if you are checking bags to use their convenient one-stop curbside checkin. That's what we did.. We used the curbside baggage checkin and got our bording passes right there from the baggage porter. It was incredibly easy. Went right from the curb, through security with no issues and onto the gate. I was very satisfied with American on this last trip. Their extra legroom in coach was very nice.

 

[DIGGER68]

I have used the service with Northwest. It is very quick and you get to change seats if you want. The other advantage is if you check in online early most other travelers haven't and you usually get a seat in the section of the plane you want.

 

[BobH]

I usually get seat assignements when I buy my tickets whether I buy online or call up and use my frequent flyer miles. I can see the advantage of checking in early and picking seats if you are not already ticketed. But what airlines do not give out seat assignments prior to arriving at the airport? I believe Southwest gives no seat assignments. Are there other airlines.I have only flown with American and Delta in the past 15 years and I have always known the seats well before my travel date.

 

[safetymom]

When a flight is oversold they don't give seat assignments till you get to the airport. If you are worried about being bumped try to get seat assignments before hand. Those that don't have seat assignments get bumped first. Or get to the airport early.

 

[mickey4ver]

When I booked our flight with NW online, we picked our own seats at that time. When I did the online check in, I was able to go and look at what seats were available at THAT time, and we moved ourselves from the back of the plane to practically the front part, like from row 42 up to 17. To me, that is a PLUS to be seated closer to the front.

I don't think when you are purchasing online that they are showing every available seat, just what they are using for your particular fare. I could be wrong, but I know that in our instance with NW, they opened up a ton more seats at the time of the flight than were available to chose from when we booked. Just a small example, it was 3 of us traveling, for one leg of the trip, we had to pick middle seats, in 3 different rows, sort of in a row behind each other. When I went to online check in, we were able to move totally to the front and all be seated together.

My guess would be by processing your boarding passes online early enough, that if they allow you to change seats, you have a better chance of moving to something you want than if you wait until you get to the airport behind others thinking the same thing. Of course you can stay with the seats assigned if they suit you, but I prefer to sit as close to the front as possible, just from the standpoint of getting off in a timely manner. JMHO on all this, what works for me, may not for someone else, but I think its great to share experiences with others.

I believe SW is about the only one out there that won't let you pick a seat. Had this debate on other threads before, I just don't care for that way of doing things, but others love SW. I guess if it was the best fare going, I would use them, but I did it once and it was a nightmare with boarding etc., and that kinda made me put them at the bottom of my list for airlines to fly.

 

[Debby7]

Air Tran does not assign seats head of time . Will be trying the online check in for the first time this summer. They allow you to check in up to 24 hours ahead.