19 ms·

What is the purpose of check-in before flying? (2014)

165 points by samuelstros 5y ago

samuelstros 5y ago
A few days ago I had to take a flight and forget to check-in. Luckily, I was able to check-in at the airport but I wondered why check-ins are required at all in 2022. The answer is unexpected. TLDR It's how most airlines get paid for the flight.
- deleted 5y ago
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thomasahle 5y ago
> Some airlines (particularly non-U.S. ones) will completely void your ticket (meaning that it loses all value) if you miss a flight after checking in. (Most U.S. airlines do not do this.) Does this mean that in the US, if I miss my flight, my ticket is still somehow valid? I have never heard of this.
- martinflack 5y ago
  I believe it relates to being able to approach a gate agent and having them rebook you on a later/tomorrow flight as a courtesy, after you checked-in but missed a flight because you dozed off, didn't watch the time, had a medical issue, couldn't find the gate in a huge airport, missed the connection from an inbound flight, etc. Really it's an extension of the US customer service ethos.
- jakswa 5y ago
  Personal anecdote: I've found the tickets can be refunded/transferred. The airline recommended a 45min layover, and the airport's immigration machines broke and we were stuck in line for hours, missing our domestic flight in a separate area of the airport. In this case, I found out that the airline would've worked with me to reschedule another flight, if I could get ahold of them on the phone. Maybe not all airlines are like this, just one case.
  - mark-r 5y ago
    This is exactly why overbooking exists. Airlines expect that a certain percentage of their passengers won't make the flight, for whatever reason, so they sell a few extra tickets so the seats won't be empty.
  - sneak 5y ago
    Personal counteranecdote: This depends on how it's booked. A so-called "hacker fare" from Kayak or Orbitz or Expedia or someone last year that involved two different underlying carrier bookings had a 45 minute connection between them. The covid paperwork check line took 90 minutes due to long lines and low staffing in the transfer airport. The carrier for the second constituent booking said FOAD when asked about a rebooking after the flight had left. The reseller (I forget if it was Kayak or Orbitz or Expedia) refused a refund. We ended up having to book a replacement ticket for over $1000, and an overnight hotel stay. American Express eventually sided with the merchant when I tried to do a chargeback for being sold an impossible itinerary. It made the trip substantially more expensive and +28 hours. I'm not sure who should be liable for this, but I'm pretty sure it's not me. Every other party in the transaction chain passed the buck and I was the one who had to pay.
- tschwimmer 5y ago
  I have missed a few flights and if the ticket agent is feeling nice that day, they will traditionally rebook you on a flight later that day or the next day.
  - Gibbon1 5y ago
    Missing your flight is one of those things where while it's a rare event for you it's a common event for the airline. For them people missing their flight for a lame reason is just noise compared to people missing flights for other reasons. Think about it. A flight to Atlanta is delayed due to weather or a mechanical issue? That's 100 people that just missed their connection. Vs random people missing flights is very predictable.
- deleted 5y ago
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- Gibbon1 5y ago
  Typically they'll rebook you on a later flight. Especially if you call them beforehand because then they can resell your seat. Depending on the ticket and the airline you may be charged a fee. You may end up having to wait standby.
- jaywalk 5y ago
  The ticket itself is not valid, because you obviously can't get on a flight that has already left. But the ticket still has value (what you paid for it) because you didn't use it. I have never missed a flight before, but I've also never heard of anyone in the US losing the value of their ticket because they missed their flight. I saw a video recently of a person who was denied boarding due to being visibly intoxicated. The process started with the gate agent offering to book them on another flight, and devolved into the person being banned from the airline. But they still received a full refund for their unused ticket.
  - etrautmann 5y ago
    I missed a flight in Oslo two years ago and the counter agent looked at me like I was insane to suggest that they airline would rebook me. In Norway it was clear that the $800 ticket was completely wasted if I got delayed on the way to the airport.
    - jaywalk 5y ago
      I had no idea that the way it works in the US seems to be the outlier worldwide. Even the ultra-low cost airlines here (like Spirit) work this way.
      - Symbiote 5y ago
        That may explain why the European ultra-low-cost airlines are even cheaper, while providing a similar service. People who miss their flight on purpose aren't great for revenue (no vastly overpriced food, overweight luggage fees etc), but people who miss flights by mistake end up paying €250 (rather than €20) for the next flight.
      - ohyoutravel 5y ago
        Yeah, I was on the way to the airport the other day, my meeting got cancelled, so I called on the way 75 mins pre departure, and they just gave me a credit for the cost, zero hassle, and I went home.
    - 5y ago
- paxys 5y ago
  Yes missing flights is surprisingly not too big a deal, even if it is your own fault. Most airlines will do their best to rebook you. The main reason for that is that there was never really a seat booked with your name on it. If you don't make it, it simply goes to someone else who was on standby. Of course the flip side of it is that in rare cases you won't get your seat even if you do make it in time, as was the subject of some famous incidents.
- bombcar 5y ago
  A "ticket" may include more than just one leg of the journey - you could have a two stage ticket, SAN-JFK-CDG - and missing the SAN-JFK flight may or may not void your JFK-CDG ticket (it may be that the second flight leaves enough time to scramble and get to it another way).
- Naga 5y ago
  This is really interesting. As a non-U.S. based and infrequent traveller, I had always just assumed that you lost the value of the ticket if you missed the trip. I never really understood sitcoms where no one seems to care if they missed their flights or not, but this would make a lot of sense.
  - dboreham 5y ago
    Sitcoms aren't set in reality in general though. People who are unemployed actors live in $1M apartments in Manhattan, for example.
  - madcaptenor 5y ago
    I've missed maybe five or so domestic flights on "legacy" US airlines (American/Delta/United). If I recall correctly, on all but one of those I was rebooked. On the remaining one I was not rebooked; the airline tried to accommodate me but they couldn't get me where I was going in time for the thing I was going to. That being said, I do care if I miss my flight, because it's obviously a pain even if you do get rebooked!
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
      Most US based airlines will charge you a rebooking fee however, so it’s not completely hassle free. It’s often around $80-100 USD. Southwest Airlines is the only major carrier I know that does not charge this fee.
      - madcaptenor 5y ago
        Surprisingly, I've never been charged this fee (and I'd remember). I don't know why. In particular I don't have any sort of status with the airlines.
    - philjohn 5y ago
      This is why, as a UK based traveller, I aim to get to the airport for international flights so that I can check in when checkin opens 3 hours before the flight. At least I'm usually sat in a comfortable lounge for the extra time, and can get a few things done, or just relax and read.
johnshaft1000 5y ago
On many airlines they use check-in as a way to try to upsell you on higher priced seats or other services.
- rwmj 5y ago
  Right, and of course there's the two hours spent looking at overpriced sandwiches and "duty free" booze. That's got to be worth something to someone.
- mabbo 5y ago
  I often am a sucker for those. I'm 188cm tall (6'2-ish). Long legs. For about $10 per hour of flight time, I'll pay more for a couple extra inches of leg room. During boarding, I have sometimes mentioned to the boarding agent or air staff that if someone in an exit row isn't able to perform the exit row duties, I'm happy to trade seats. A couple of times it's even worked.
  - sandermvanvliet 5y ago
    Being 2.08m tall (6’10) I _have_ to always pay extra because I don’t fit in a regular seat. Many years ago at check in I would automatically be put on the exit row but nowadays that doesn’t happen anymore. So now I need to book very early because otherwise the exit row seats are all gone.
    - pottertheotter 5y ago
      They have financially engineered every part of the process now.
      - shapefrog 5y ago
        Once upon a time you would get those seats for being a nice person, now they go to the highest bidder...
    - madengr 5y ago
londons_explore 5y ago
Just imagine if other forms of transport used the same ticketing system... "I'm sorry sir, you can't get on the 09:03 Southbound Red Line express subway because you didn't check in 40 minutes before departure. Check in has now closed, so you'll have to buy a new ticket."
- hammock 5y ago
  This scenario has happened to me with Amtrak. It also applies to some coach bus services.
  - SilasX 5y ago
    Yes! I ran into that with a coach bus one time (trip from some big Boston transit hub to NYC). I wanted to get on the bus but they told me I had to check in at some gate first, and I was like, “what? We have to do this like an airport?” And I didn’t have to do that for the first leg (from NYC Chinatown).
- asdff 5y ago
  Far too many industries these days are switching to this airline model of screwing the customer who has no choice but to go for this particular industry. Dynamic pricing is terrible. Either sell out your inventory or don't.
techsupporter 5y ago
> When you buy a flight or a journey, you are actually buying a ticket. This used to be a paper ticket, but now it's electronic. But the actual process is the same as before, it's just an electronic implementation of the paper. The ticket is your proof to the airline that you paid an organisation it trusts for the flight. The airline will only distribute its unique ticket paper to travel agents it trusts. Back a very long time ago, I worked for a company that had a lot of traveling employees. We were our own travel agent and had on-site all of the things a retail travel agent (at the time) had. As a junior sysadmin, I was responsible for the computer parts, specifically getting the ticket printing machine placed in a secure room--TWO keys and a reinforced door and door frame--and working with our telco vendor to get the dedicated circuit connected to the nearest Sabre Global Distribution System hub. One day, the ticket printing machine experienced a fault and ran a whole stack of ticket paper through at high speed, shredding all of the blank ticket stock we had. Though it didn't look like it at the time, this wound up being an absolute nightmare. We could only get a certain amount of ticket stock at a time (since there were few digital controls, if I took a blank ticket and typed my own details onto it, free flight!...until someone matched up the audit number). We couldn't just ring up our sponsoring corporate travel agency and ask for more ticket stock because they had the same limitations on themselves. I spent all weekend picking all of the pieces out of the machine and taping them back together to get the audit numbers off of enough (I think 90%) of the destroyed ticket stock, along with pictures of the shredded pile and of the inside of and nearby the machine. The pictures were developed at a K-Mart and the whole works sent off via FedEx first-AM overnight (the most expensive parcel I'd ever shipped, $135 at the time) to an address somewhere in Colorado. Three hours after delivery, I had a phone call saying our request for replacement ticket stock was granted and they sent a stack of ticket stock via hand-delivered courier who I had to meet at the nearby airport. Fortunately we didn't need to issue any tickets for our employees to travel that weekend.
- dstick 5y ago
  Yeah I can see why this workflow went digital the second it was possible :D Thanks for sharing!
- jiveturkey 5y ago
  > hand-delivered courier who I had to meet at the nearby airport. where they presumably were able to fly gratis, since they own the ticket stock! lol
blessedwhiskers 5y ago
There is also quite a bit of reliance on the check-in process for Z/employee fares, etc. It's typical that FAs/pilots/etc will commute on other airlines, and often will "spray" fares around depending on flight loads. IE, you need a connecting flight to your home base, the one you booked is oversold by two seats and almost everyone has checked in, so you book another flight that leaves an hour later, but show up at the airport for the first flight in case there's a seat available, etc. Ultimately your employer only gets billed for the flight you actually board, so there's low risk in spraying out and checking in for several flights. Also when flying standby, prioritization for many airlines involves check-in order (and also they'll often prioritize paying customers, friends/family, then their own employees over other carriers' employees, or similar).
Eric_WVGG 5y ago
I’m still confused. > You probably have noticed that you often buy your flight from a different company than the airline itself. What? No, never. I figured out long ago that one carrier always has the best rates for my city, middlemen rarely/never cost less, and I've got the frequent flier card and the points. I thought everyone who flew domestically more than twice a year did that. I thought the check-in was just to confirm "yes I'm really really going to fly tomorrow" so they can try to fill any unclaimed seats.
- iams 5y ago
  > I thought everyone who flew domestically more than twice a year did that. Not at all, I've never seen a flight cheaper direct with the airline than going through an agent.
  - raverbashing 5y ago
    So, the answer is: "it's complicated" You can get a cheaper ticket with an agent than with an airline but this would be a ticket attached to certain conditions (for example, it can only be sold together with a hotel room) Another possibility is that you do a search and find it per X and then go to an agent and they find it cheaper but because they know how to look around your dates and possibilities you might not know (connection alternatives, etc). But to be fair, even if it's a little more expensive I prefer the peace of mind of dealing with one vendor instead of two vendors if anything happens.
    - goblin89 5y ago
      > You can get a cheaper ticket with an agent than with an airline but this would be a ticket attached to certain conditions (for example, it can only be sold together with a hotel room) Ticket pricing is unpredictable and really depends on your location and route. A few times I used Expedia instead of the airline, and it was both cheaper and allowed flexible total unconditional cancellation within a short time after buying. Quite helpful when you need to arrange multiple bookings, hotels, etc. on short notice with changing availability. Plus there’s that time I literally bought a same day ticket just to enter HKIA and meet arriving friend (a ticket was required due to protests). Returned it as soon as I passed the guards. With that low-cost airline it wouldn’t be possible directly, and even if somehow it was the ordinary refund would’ve taken days. (After I saw their ticket verification procedures I realized a even a well-done fake might have sufficed, but you don’t want to leave stuff like that to chance.) That said, in some countries I have never seen agents offer better options than airlines.
andi999 5y ago
A long time ago, you somehow needed to reconfirm the flight 48 hours before. Not sure what that function was.
- netsharc 5y ago
  Probably a database/messaging consistency check via human, I wonder what a dropped packet is, back then. E.g. paper jam on the fax machine, "Hey what was that fax?" "Dunno, the machine ate it.". I once accompanied a travelling family member to the airport, and the airline didn't have a record of her ticket! This was in the pre-historic times before there was e-tickets, mobile checkin, etc.
- rakoo 5y ago
  Airlines and travel agencies often overbook, so the check was probably a good idea to cull off extra bookings
tyingq 5y ago
Because they oversubscribe seats for sale. The check-in helps them see when that's a problem. Similarly, if it prompts a bunch of people to change flights, and the flight is very undersold, they might meld two flights together as a single one.
browningstreet 5y ago
Boarded a plane today. Me and my son both have pre check. His digital boarding pass didn’t have pre check on it. They sent him to regular security. I walked through with his paper boarding pass (we got when checking luggage), so he had to go get another one. His second boarding pass had pre check on it. Whatever this system is, this is ridiculous. These tickets were bought together, and our numbers were entered correctly. I half wondered if there was a technical glitch when generating his boarding pass. Like, an unavailable API endpoint. My latest “check in” story. If you don’t have pre check on your digital or paper boarding pass, request another. And remember to check.
- BiggsHoson 5y ago
  And that may not be all that's needed. I recently went through the TSA Precheck line (my ticket had the little Pre heck logo on it) but the check-in dude did not give me the laminated poster board that said "Precheck" on it. I don't fly often enough to have noticed, so when I got to the security apparatus 15 feet further I was treated as non-Precheck. It did not matter that I could show my ticket had the appropriate logo on it. No card, no Precheck. One more slap in the face from the Security Theater.
  - rexf 5y ago
    What is the precheck card? From my anecdotal experience, your boarding pass may have TSA precheck mark. This has been sufficient for me to go into the TSA precheck line (vs regular default line). Also, I usually see a person at the precheck line entrance screening people for boarding passes with the precheck mark. Otherwise they will direct you to the regular line.
    - lights0123 5y ago
      For some airports with low amounts of traffic, there isn't a separate precheck line, so you're just given some sort of marker that tells the workers to treat you as a precheck member in the standard line.
    - jthrowsitaway 5y ago
Mikeb85 5y ago
It's pointless. You need to check your luggage and verify your documents anyway, electronic check-in is a waste of time... I used to do it, now I don't.
- CaliforniaKarl 5y ago
  Depending on your situation, this might not apply to you: Often, when airlines need to bump passengers, one of the factors they'll use is the checkin time. https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer...
- refurb 5y ago
  I guess it depends? For business travel it’s carry on only and documents are verified at security. I had the process down perfectly where I could leave home and be at the gate, ready to board, 30 minutes later. Jump out of the cab, go to pre-check line, 5 min later walking to gate. Without online check-in that would be impossible.
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    covid ruined this in a lot of places. They’d verify your vaccination/negative test status at check-in. Some airlines would let you upload everything in advance, but many preferred to have things checked by the local check-In agents.
belter 5y ago
If you are planning to travel, always check if you actually got a ETicket (ETK) number. Most airlines companies do not really have all kinds of implementations with end to end transactions. It will happen to you maybe once in your whole flight traveler life. -> You get both the money taken out of your credit card plus an airline confirmation of your booking AND a booking number. However if the ETK number is missing you dont have a ticket and wont be allowed to fly. Tip to single bachelors: If the check-in counter is not too busy, and the ground hostess is attractive, it is a good pick up line. Go on asking if it happens frequently to other passengers and more frequently with other companies than others :-))

165 points by samuelstros 5y ago

A few days ago I had to take a flight and forget to check-in. Luckily, I was able to check-in at the airport but I wondered why check-ins are required at all in 2022. The answer is unexpected. TLDR It's how most airlines get paid for the flight.

deleted 5y ago
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thomasahle 5y ago

> Some airlines (particularly non-U.S. ones) will completely void your ticket (meaning that it loses all value) if you miss a flight after checking in. (Most U.S. airlines do not do this.) Does this mean that in the US, if I miss my flight, my ticket is still somehow valid? I have never heard of this.

martinflack 5y ago
I believe it relates to being able to approach a gate agent and having them rebook you on a later/tomorrow flight as a courtesy, after you checked-in but missed a flight because you dozed off, didn't watch the time, had a medical issue, couldn't find the gate in a huge airport, missed the connection from an inbound flight, etc. Really it's an extension of the US customer service ethos.
jakswa 5y ago
Personal anecdote: I've found the tickets can be refunded/transferred. The airline recommended a 45min layover, and the airport's immigration machines broke and we were stuck in line for hours, missing our domestic flight in a separate area of the airport. In this case, I found out that the airline would've worked with me to reschedule another flight, if I could get ahold of them on the phone. Maybe not all airlines are like this, just one case.
- mark-r 5y ago
  This is exactly why overbooking exists. Airlines expect that a certain percentage of their passengers won't make the flight, for whatever reason, so they sell a few extra tickets so the seats won't be empty.
- sneak 5y ago
  Personal counteranecdote: This depends on how it's booked. A so-called "hacker fare" from Kayak or Orbitz or Expedia or someone last year that involved two different underlying carrier bookings had a 45 minute connection between them. The covid paperwork check line took 90 minutes due to long lines and low staffing in the transfer airport. The carrier for the second constituent booking said FOAD when asked about a rebooking after the flight had left. The reseller (I forget if it was Kayak or Orbitz or Expedia) refused a refund. We ended up having to book a replacement ticket for over $1000, and an overnight hotel stay. American Express eventually sided with the merchant when I tried to do a chargeback for being sold an impossible itinerary. It made the trip substantially more expensive and +28 hours. I'm not sure who should be liable for this, but I'm pretty sure it's not me. Every other party in the transaction chain passed the buck and I was the one who had to pay.
tschwimmer 5y ago
I have missed a few flights and if the ticket agent is feeling nice that day, they will traditionally rebook you on a flight later that day or the next day.
- Gibbon1 5y ago
  Missing your flight is one of those things where while it's a rare event for you it's a common event for the airline. For them people missing their flight for a lame reason is just noise compared to people missing flights for other reasons. Think about it. A flight to Atlanta is delayed due to weather or a mechanical issue? That's 100 people that just missed their connection. Vs random people missing flights is very predictable.
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Gibbon1 5y ago
Typically they'll rebook you on a later flight. Especially if you call them beforehand because then they can resell your seat. Depending on the ticket and the airline you may be charged a fee. You may end up having to wait standby.
jaywalk 5y ago
The ticket itself is not valid, because you obviously can't get on a flight that has already left. But the ticket still has value (what you paid for it) because you didn't use it. I have never missed a flight before, but I've also never heard of anyone in the US losing the value of their ticket because they missed their flight. I saw a video recently of a person who was denied boarding due to being visibly intoxicated. The process started with the gate agent offering to book them on another flight, and devolved into the person being banned from the airline. But they still received a full refund for their unused ticket.
- etrautmann 5y ago
  I missed a flight in Oslo two years ago and the counter agent looked at me like I was insane to suggest that they airline would rebook me. In Norway it was clear that the $800 ticket was completely wasted if I got delayed on the way to the airport.
  - jaywalk 5y ago
    I had no idea that the way it works in the US seems to be the outlier worldwide. Even the ultra-low cost airlines here (like Spirit) work this way.
    - Symbiote 5y ago
      That may explain why the European ultra-low-cost airlines are even cheaper, while providing a similar service. People who miss their flight on purpose aren't great for revenue (no vastly overpriced food, overweight luggage fees etc), but people who miss flights by mistake end up paying €250 (rather than €20) for the next flight.
    - ohyoutravel 5y ago
      Yeah, I was on the way to the airport the other day, my meeting got cancelled, so I called on the way 75 mins pre departure, and they just gave me a credit for the cost, zero hassle, and I went home.
  - 5y ago
paxys 5y ago
Yes missing flights is surprisingly not too big a deal, even if it is your own fault. Most airlines will do their best to rebook you. The main reason for that is that there was never really a seat booked with your name on it. If you don't make it, it simply goes to someone else who was on standby. Of course the flip side of it is that in rare cases you won't get your seat even if you do make it in time, as was the subject of some famous incidents.
bombcar 5y ago
A "ticket" may include more than just one leg of the journey - you could have a two stage ticket, SAN-JFK-CDG - and missing the SAN-JFK flight may or may not void your JFK-CDG ticket (it may be that the second flight leaves enough time to scramble and get to it another way).
Naga 5y ago
This is really interesting. As a non-U.S. based and infrequent traveller, I had always just assumed that you lost the value of the ticket if you missed the trip. I never really understood sitcoms where no one seems to care if they missed their flights or not, but this would make a lot of sense.
- dboreham 5y ago
  Sitcoms aren't set in reality in general though. People who are unemployed actors live in $1M apartments in Manhattan, for example.
- madcaptenor 5y ago
  I've missed maybe five or so domestic flights on "legacy" US airlines (American/Delta/United). If I recall correctly, on all but one of those I was rebooked. On the remaining one I was not rebooked; the airline tried to accommodate me but they couldn't get me where I was going in time for the thing I was going to. That being said, I do care if I miss my flight, because it's obviously a pain even if you do get rebooked!
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
    Most US based airlines will charge you a rebooking fee however, so it’s not completely hassle free. It’s often around $80-100 USD. Southwest Airlines is the only major carrier I know that does not charge this fee.
    - madcaptenor 5y ago
      Surprisingly, I've never been charged this fee (and I'd remember). I don't know why. In particular I don't have any sort of status with the airlines.
  - philjohn 5y ago
    This is why, as a UK based traveller, I aim to get to the airport for international flights so that I can check in when checkin opens 3 hours before the flight. At least I'm usually sat in a comfortable lounge for the extra time, and can get a few things done, or just relax and read.

johnshaft1000 5y ago

On many airlines they use check-in as a way to try to upsell you on higher priced seats or other services.

rwmj 5y ago
Right, and of course there's the two hours spent looking at overpriced sandwiches and "duty free" booze. That's got to be worth something to someone.
mabbo 5y ago
I often am a sucker for those. I'm 188cm tall (6'2-ish). Long legs. For about $10 per hour of flight time, I'll pay more for a couple extra inches of leg room. During boarding, I have sometimes mentioned to the boarding agent or air staff that if someone in an exit row isn't able to perform the exit row duties, I'm happy to trade seats. A couple of times it's even worked.
- sandermvanvliet 5y ago
  Being 2.08m tall (6’10) I _have_ to always pay extra because I don’t fit in a regular seat. Many years ago at check in I would automatically be put on the exit row but nowadays that doesn’t happen anymore. So now I need to book very early because otherwise the exit row seats are all gone.
  - pottertheotter 5y ago
    They have financially engineered every part of the process now.
    - shapefrog 5y ago
      Once upon a time you would get those seats for being a nice person, now they go to the highest bidder...
  - madengr 5y ago

londons_explore 5y ago

Just imagine if other forms of transport used the same ticketing system... "I'm sorry sir, you can't get on the 09:03 Southbound Red Line express subway because you didn't check in 40 minutes before departure. Check in has now closed, so you'll have to buy a new ticket."

hammock 5y ago
This scenario has happened to me with Amtrak. It also applies to some coach bus services.
- SilasX 5y ago
  Yes! I ran into that with a coach bus one time (trip from some big Boston transit hub to NYC). I wanted to get on the bus but they told me I had to check in at some gate first, and I was like, “what? We have to do this like an airport?” And I didn’t have to do that for the first leg (from NYC Chinatown).
asdff 5y ago
Far too many industries these days are switching to this airline model of screwing the customer who has no choice but to go for this particular industry. Dynamic pricing is terrible. Either sell out your inventory or don't.

techsupporter 5y ago

> When you buy a flight or a journey, you are actually buying a ticket. This used to be a paper ticket, but now it's electronic. But the actual process is the same as before, it's just an electronic implementation of the paper. The ticket is your proof to the airline that you paid an organisation it trusts for the flight. The airline will only distribute its unique ticket paper to travel agents it trusts. Back a very long time ago, I worked for a company that had a lot of traveling employees. We were our own travel agent and had on-site all of the things a retail travel agent (at the time) had. As a junior sysadmin, I was responsible for the computer parts, specifically getting the ticket printing machine placed in a secure room--TWO keys and a reinforced door and door frame--and working with our telco vendor to get the dedicated circuit connected to the nearest Sabre Global Distribution System hub. One day, the ticket printing machine experienced a fault and ran a whole stack of ticket paper through at high speed, shredding all of the blank ticket stock we had. Though it didn't look like it at the time, this wound up being an absolute nightmare. We could only get a certain amount of ticket stock at a time (since there were few digital controls, if I took a blank ticket and typed my own details onto it, free flight!...until someone matched up the audit number). We couldn't just ring up our sponsoring corporate travel agency and ask for more ticket stock because they had the same limitations on themselves. I spent all weekend picking all of the pieces out of the machine and taping them back together to get the audit numbers off of enough (I think 90%) of the destroyed ticket stock, along with pictures of the shredded pile and of the inside of and nearby the machine. The pictures were developed at a K-Mart and the whole works sent off via FedEx first-AM overnight (the most expensive parcel I'd ever shipped, $135 at the time) to an address somewhere in Colorado. Three hours after delivery, I had a phone call saying our request for replacement ticket stock was granted and they sent a stack of ticket stock via hand-delivered courier who I had to meet at the nearby airport. Fortunately we didn't need to issue any tickets for our employees to travel that weekend.

dstick 5y ago
Yeah I can see why this workflow went digital the second it was possible :D Thanks for sharing!
jiveturkey 5y ago
> hand-delivered courier who I had to meet at the nearby airport. where they presumably were able to fly gratis, since they own the ticket stock! lol

blessedwhiskers 5y ago

There is also quite a bit of reliance on the check-in process for Z/employee fares, etc. It's typical that FAs/pilots/etc will commute on other airlines, and often will "spray" fares around depending on flight loads. IE, you need a connecting flight to your home base, the one you booked is oversold by two seats and almost everyone has checked in, so you book another flight that leaves an hour later, but show up at the airport for the first flight in case there's a seat available, etc. Ultimately your employer only gets billed for the flight you actually board, so there's low risk in spraying out and checking in for several flights. Also when flying standby, prioritization for many airlines involves check-in order (and also they'll often prioritize paying customers, friends/family, then their own employees over other carriers' employees, or similar).

Eric_WVGG 5y ago

I’m still confused. > You probably have noticed that you often buy your flight from a different company than the airline itself. What? No, never. I figured out long ago that one carrier always has the best rates for my city, middlemen rarely/never cost less, and I've got the frequent flier card and the points. I thought everyone who flew domestically more than twice a year did that. I thought the check-in was just to confirm "yes I'm really really going to fly tomorrow" so they can try to fill any unclaimed seats.

iams 5y ago
> I thought everyone who flew domestically more than twice a year did that. Not at all, I've never seen a flight cheaper direct with the airline than going through an agent.
- raverbashing 5y ago
  So, the answer is: "it's complicated" You can get a cheaper ticket with an agent than with an airline but this would be a ticket attached to certain conditions (for example, it can only be sold together with a hotel room) Another possibility is that you do a search and find it per X and then go to an agent and they find it cheaper but because they know how to look around your dates and possibilities you might not know (connection alternatives, etc). But to be fair, even if it's a little more expensive I prefer the peace of mind of dealing with one vendor instead of two vendors if anything happens.
  - goblin89 5y ago
    > You can get a cheaper ticket with an agent than with an airline but this would be a ticket attached to certain conditions (for example, it can only be sold together with a hotel room) Ticket pricing is unpredictable and really depends on your location and route. A few times I used Expedia instead of the airline, and it was both cheaper and allowed flexible total unconditional cancellation within a short time after buying. Quite helpful when you need to arrange multiple bookings, hotels, etc. on short notice with changing availability. Plus there’s that time I literally bought a same day ticket just to enter HKIA and meet arriving friend (a ticket was required due to protests). Returned it as soon as I passed the guards. With that low-cost airline it wouldn’t be possible directly, and even if somehow it was the ordinary refund would’ve taken days. (After I saw their ticket verification procedures I realized a even a well-done fake might have sufficed, but you don’t want to leave stuff like that to chance.) That said, in some countries I have never seen agents offer better options than airlines.

andi999 5y ago

A long time ago, you somehow needed to reconfirm the flight 48 hours before. Not sure what that function was.

netsharc 5y ago
Probably a database/messaging consistency check via human, I wonder what a dropped packet is, back then. E.g. paper jam on the fax machine, "Hey what was that fax?" "Dunno, the machine ate it.". I once accompanied a travelling family member to the airport, and the airline didn't have a record of her ticket! This was in the pre-historic times before there was e-tickets, mobile checkin, etc.
rakoo 5y ago
Airlines and travel agencies often overbook, so the check was probably a good idea to cull off extra bookings

tyingq 5y ago

Because they oversubscribe seats for sale. The check-in helps them see when that's a problem. Similarly, if it prompts a bunch of people to change flights, and the flight is very undersold, they might meld two flights together as a single one.

browningstreet 5y ago

Boarded a plane today. Me and my son both have pre check. His digital boarding pass didn’t have pre check on it. They sent him to regular security. I walked through with his paper boarding pass (we got when checking luggage), so he had to go get another one. His second boarding pass had pre check on it. Whatever this system is, this is ridiculous. These tickets were bought together, and our numbers were entered correctly. I half wondered if there was a technical glitch when generating his boarding pass. Like, an unavailable API endpoint. My latest “check in” story. If you don’t have pre check on your digital or paper boarding pass, request another. And remember to check.

BiggsHoson 5y ago
And that may not be all that's needed. I recently went through the TSA Precheck line (my ticket had the little Pre heck logo on it) but the check-in dude did not give me the laminated poster board that said "Precheck" on it. I don't fly often enough to have noticed, so when I got to the security apparatus 15 feet further I was treated as non-Precheck. It did not matter that I could show my ticket had the appropriate logo on it. No card, no Precheck. One more slap in the face from the Security Theater.
- rexf 5y ago
  What is the precheck card? From my anecdotal experience, your boarding pass may have TSA precheck mark. This has been sufficient for me to go into the TSA precheck line (vs regular default line). Also, I usually see a person at the precheck line entrance screening people for boarding passes with the precheck mark. Otherwise they will direct you to the regular line.
  - lights0123 5y ago
    For some airports with low amounts of traffic, there isn't a separate precheck line, so you're just given some sort of marker that tells the workers to treat you as a precheck member in the standard line.
  - jthrowsitaway 5y ago

Mikeb85 5y ago

It's pointless. You need to check your luggage and verify your documents anyway, electronic check-in is a waste of time... I used to do it, now I don't.

CaliforniaKarl 5y ago
Depending on your situation, this might not apply to you: Often, when airlines need to bump passengers, one of the factors they'll use is the checkin time. https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer...
refurb 5y ago
I guess it depends? For business travel it’s carry on only and documents are verified at security. I had the process down perfectly where I could leave home and be at the gate, ready to board, 30 minutes later. Jump out of the cab, go to pre-check line, 5 min later walking to gate. Without online check-in that would be impossible.
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  covid ruined this in a lot of places. They’d verify your vaccination/negative test status at check-in. Some airlines would let you upload everything in advance, but many preferred to have things checked by the local check-In agents.

belter 5y ago

If you are planning to travel, always check if you actually got a ETicket (ETK) number. Most airlines companies do not really have all kinds of implementations with end to end transactions. It will happen to you maybe once in your whole flight traveler life. -> You get both the money taken out of your credit card plus an airline confirmation of your booking AND a booking number. However if the ETK number is missing you dont have a ticket and wont be allowed to fly. Tip to single bachelors: If the check-in counter is not too busy, and the ground hostess is attractive, it is a good pick up line. Go on asking if it happens frequently to other passengers and more frequently with other companies than others :-))