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Why do we still need to check-in for a civil commercial flight?

That whole thing implies that a lot of people buy tickets and don’t show up.

I’ve done a lot of ‘not showing up’ over 25 years of business travel. It’s different when somebody else is paying the bill. I just carry on with whatever I’m doing and call the office when I get a chance to have them sort it out. Obviously when I fail to check in on-line and then fail to check in at the airport, and others do the same, the airline gets indications that I’m not coming. I’ve also failed to show up after checking on on line. It’s a statistical game from their point of view, obviously, with standby passengers etc included.

Flying at 44,000 ft in the company airplane, sending texts to my wife to tell her I’m over Texas and expect to home for dinner at 7:20 is more fun. I’ve been happy to do some of that in the last couple of years. The only bad side is not being able to practice my school boy foreign languages on whatever hapless victim is nearby… which I agree is also a lot of fun :-)

Last Edited by Silvaire at 23 Jul 15:08

Patrick wrote:

Never done that. I didn’t even know you CAN undo a check-in? I simply rebook through the travel agency.

Indeed, if you book through a travel agency, they will “uncheck” you before rebooking.

Patrick wrote:

I usually sit in the last row…

That’s not bad, I agree. I was seated there recently on an Air France flight and had a nice chat (in my 30-years-out-of-date school French) with one of the flight attendants sitting in the jumpseat beside, who had seen the “Crew” tag on my hand luggage. I also got an extra cup of coffee from her

EDDS - Stuttgart

@Shorrick_Mk2 I am thinking of options with a ticket only and I cannot think of anything else because if we had tickets only, the passengers without luggage would show up only at the gate, i.e. too late. And if you would put a process of mentioning “hello, I am at the airport” before all security checks start, you are inventing another check-in process.

That whole thing implies that a lot of people buy tickets and don’t show up. Maybe that’s one of the reasons ticket prices have gone down so much in the last 10 years.

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

@vladimir that is correct. Typical ground time for a A320 / B737 is 45 minutes (30 for lo-cos) – so one really cannot wait till the passenger actually gets on board to organise things.

Last Edited by Shorrick_Mk2 at 23 Jul 12:01

what_next wrote:

the copilot insisted to stay in his pre-booked seat

Bad copilot! You should get me next time you go, I’ll change seats as requested by my captain

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

Shorrick_Mk2 wrote:

“why do i need a boarding pass if my details are on the e- ticket”.

The original question was “why do I need to go through the process of check-in and getting a boarding pass if I could skip that and use the ticket as a boarding pass – easier for the passengers, less processes to go through, little difference for the airline”.

From the discussion up to here I understand that airlines use the check-in process as a confirmation of the ticket, i.e. the passenger is saying “yes, I still want a seat on that plane”, which of course translates to the whole cargo, catering, overbooking and so on stuff. And that confirmation comes anytime between 48 hours and 45 minutes before the flight.

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

If i get it right the original question was “why do i need a boarding pass if my details are on the e- ticket”.

A ticket is only payment for going from A to B – maybe on the original route, time and equipment booked, maybe not.

Vladimir wrote:

If you are flying with your family/child on a 10 hour flight, you would care if you sit next to each other or 10 rows apart.

That of course is a valid point! Until now the only time I have ever sat on a plane together with my family was when my boss invited them to come along for a weekend trip… But then again, we couldn’t sit together because the copilot insisted to stay in his pre-booked seat

EDDS - Stuttgart

the moment I want to show my boarding pass, the screen of this phone has just turned black

It takes your friendly ground staff at the gate a few seconds to print a new paper-based boarding pass for you in that case. It’s not like you will be denied boarding if your iPhone battery is out.

And additionally, if I need to rebook the flight I will have to remember to undo my check-in first.

Never done that. I didn’t even know you CAN undo a check-in? I simply rebook through the travel agency. At least on Lufthansa, check-in status is irrelevant here AFAIK. What matters is your booking class and the corresponding rebooking conditions. I might be wrong, in that case the travel agent “undoes” the check-in for me? I couldn’t care less.

I simply see no advantage in checking in earlier than necessary. More choice of seats? What do I care. Airline flights are not ruined by the seat itself, but by the person sitting next to you.

A bad seat ruins my day. I fly out early Monday morning. I do not want people sitting next to me. Obviously, there is no guarantee to get that (unless booking business class, where they keep the middle seat unoccupied) but the chances are MUCH higher in certain sections of the airplane. I usually sit in the last row or the one before that at the window. Unless the plane is fully booked, people will flock in the front section of the cabin and there’s lots of space (and relative silence) in the rear section. That allows me to get an extra 30-60 minutes of sleep and that MAKES a difference for the entire work day for me. This works 8/10 times.

Hungriger Wolf (EDHF), Germany

what_next wrote:

This is the weak spot.

Print@home is also an option. Or going to the airport saying you don’t have the boarding card – they will give you one.

what_next wrote:

I simply see no advantage in checking in earlier than necessary. More choice of seats? What do I care.

If you are flying with your family/child on a 10 hour flight, you would care if you sit next to each other or 10 rows apart. I’ve had that many times, no idea how seat distribution works for tickets booked together 5 months before the flight.

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland
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