Why does it take so long to check-in at the airport

[Stephy1886]

Most of the time the self checkin isn’t working so everyone has to wait in line to check on hold luggage

I’m always surprised how long it takes groups / individuals to checkin

when it’s finally my turn it’s hand over the passports then put each suitcase on to check the weight,
get the boarding passes & see you later.

the amount of times you see folk giving staff long winded stories, standing up there for ages. Why do some folk take so long to hand over a passport & weigh a case?

Because they don't have enough desks. Because there's a built in expectation that you spend hours standing in a queue. Because everything to do with airports is shit and soul destroying. But, you need to do it, so you can have that magic moment of stepping out a door you stepped into mere hours before, and being somewhere else entirely.

It’s more to do with the folk that seem to take ages when it’s their turn

are they telling staff a sob story in order to get an upgrade?

You probably think they're taking longer than you because you're waiting in a queue. It's doubtful they actually are - it's just your perspective. You're standing still, they're moving, but they're in your way.

I think maybe the previous poster misunderstood what you were getting at OP, I think you were asking why people aren't as well prepared at check-in as you appear to be? If that's the case, I really don't know either, when I'm doing shopping or whatever, if there's a queue, I tend to either try and get exactly the right money if I'm paying in cash, or at least have my card out ready to pay immediately, so it usually takes only a matter of seconds to get through the checkout process. Other people, seen to be in another world, and sometimes seem almost surprised that they have to pay, waiting until the goods are wrapped, and the assistant has given them the total due, before even opening their bag to get a purse or whatever out. Drives me nuts, and that's just for a simple process, so if there's a group, ideally you'd think they'd have collected the passports, etc together, ready to hand to the check in assistant as soon as it's their turn to step up. Then of course you always get those who have gone over their baggage allowance, and so have to go and unpack half their stuff, sometimes asking the others in the group if they can put stuff in their case, etc. I guess it's always been the same, but people like you and I like to be organised, and other people just don't engage their brains. Each to their own I guess, although it is annoying!

Maybe they’re screwing up the answers to the safety questions.
“Yes, I did pack this bag myself, but my mum gave me an antique bread knife to take to my auntie, and come to think of it I might have put some trinitrotoluene under my socks…”

@FranceIsWhereItsAt again, that's just how it seems to you. Unless you really are the only perfect person in a world full of slowcoaches and idiots, most people do exactly as you do when they get to the head of a queue, and you do the same as them. You don't think they do because the person at the head of the queue is the only visible obstacle you can see to the nirvana that awaits you and so you pin all your frustrations with mass transit on them.

this is why I always am at the airport 3.5 hours early. They say 3 hours for international flights. I fly every 3 or 4 months to canada from dominican republic for a week (next time is sept 7 and I am doing 2 weeks for the first time) I am ALWAYS first in line. Then in dominican I walk right back outside after my luggage has been checked get in the car with my husband (who does not travel with me) and we head to a restaurant that we love near the airport and kill an hour with a nice meal..then he drops me back and i go right thru right in time to grab a tea to fill my travel mug for the flight. On return I do the same but no such luck with a husband in the parking lot,, so an overpriced glass of wine or two in the boarding area.. but I beat the crowds.

I'm slow at check in because I have a wheelchair and have to answer 202 questions about my disability and then wait for special assistance.

Often because they have too much luggage or it is overweight and they are being invoiced for and paying additional charges.

Often because they failed to check in online or pay for seats together and are asking the ground crew to sort out sears together.

Sometimes it's a visa problem. I spent ages at check in last month flying from a European country back to where I am a resident. The computer at check in wasn't accepting the fact that I didn't need a return flight. They had to call two different people until they could find someone to override the system and check me in.
I would imagine many people don't reside in the country of their citizenship or people need visas to travel and these need to be checked before you can board the flight, usually at the check in desk.

I always check in online.

Isn't this what most people do ?

Dropping off my bag rarely takes more than 5-10 minutes.

You notice the ones who take forever and not the ones who don’t. The really fast ones will have checked in online and have no checked luggage and you won’t even see them in the queue. So the number of people in line who need a flight change/seat change/some other special service will be proportionally a lot higher than their numbers on a flight would suggest.

Groups seem to take longer in part because when there are more bags and people’s details to manage there’s more room for a little confusion, etc.

But also, you get a lot of nervous flyers who just need some reassurance and walking through everything and find it hard to follow the instructions they’re given.

I check in online whenever I can, but I'm not a typical person as I'm British but living in the US on a green card.

Sometimes the software at check in works beautifully. Other times I'm stuck there for 15 minutes as computer says no to my perfectly legal travel plans.

Although, I also think some people are trying to talk their way into an upgrade and are trying to get something for free.

We took ages checking in for our most recent flight because half of our luggage booking wasn't showing up on BA's system. So we had to dig out the confirmation email (we had this printed out) show it appearing on Manage Booking (which took ages to load), call the manager etc. The eventually did let us check in the suitcase we'd already paid for but it did take a while!

Sometimes it is perspective but sometimes it is people really taking longer than normal. When three families are checked in at the neighbouring desk while the same family stands at this desk, it isn't just you thinking that they are slow. A few reasons it can take long (some already mentioned):

• Arguing about seat selection (i.e. they didn't pay in advance and now there are no seats together and they have to sit together)
• Visa issues (I live overseas and have a somewhat uncommon visa, which can sometimes confuse airline check-in staff)
• Disability needs
• Too much luggage/overweight luggage and now the passenger is trying to sort things between suitcases and/or they stand there arguing
• There was a flight change/delay and now they have to deal with changes to connecting flights
• Passenger shows up on a no-fly list

Most of the time people are just talking to kill time while the gate agent takes forever. Part of the problem is that airlines run mostly on antiquated computers and software.

Often the issue is the sort of people who don't get purses/passports/tickets out until they are requested. I do wonder what is wrong with these people, it's as though they are aliens visiting earth for the first time and seem shocked that they'll need to pay at the till or hand over their passport at the check in desk. Very dim folk indeed.

Drives me mad when people take forever (we're well-prepared and quick, of course 😉). It's even more annoying when the queue next to you moves quickly.

I often wonder this if I have to use the airport check in. But that’s very infrequent, I always use online checkin, and if I have hold luggage I go to bag drop. Last time in memory I used the airport check in was when I helped my teenagers who were flying to Bangladesh, via Dubai and needed to check in at the airport. I remember it was chaos as there was still some kind of covid testing requirements and some people got sent over to a testing centre and had to come back, so the queue was a mix of those people. My kids had to show a parent letter granting permission for them to fly alone so I went to check in, incase of any problems. We were by far the quickest people to check in. Some were at the desk for ages. We had passports in hand, covid testing requirements in hand, visas in passports, I don’t understand what else these people have to prove at check in, but many had loads of luggage so I guess paying excess baggage, arguing over the costs, moving stuff between cases all played a part. Someone had the biggest TV box I’ve ever seen to check in, others had boxes that weren’t even secured properly with tape. It was absolutely chaos! I guess because it wasn’t a holiday destination as such and many going home / taking things for relatives so that delayed things.

Usually it’s show your passport, tickets and get your bags weighed. Lord knows why it takes some people so long. I avoided airport check in at all costs!

It wasn't always like this. In the 90s you could get the the airport 30 minutes before take off, check in a suitcase, go through security, go to the plane and get on. For a short haul. Long haul flights you were advised to be there 2 hours before, although this was seen as excessive!

@Stephy1886

It’s more to do with the folk that seem to take ages when it’s their turn

I agree it’s massively variable…

If you’re used to the flow, happy with a seat and know what’s expected (documents etc) you can get a manual check-in done by an agent in maybe a couple a minutes - yes,sadly, I have timed it…

But once discussions start over seats, or connecting flights where applicable or worse still people/groups suddenly find out about little things like APIS 😱you can suddenly be looking at ten minutes plus…

Cattle prods..,that’ll fix it.

Last time I was at the airport the guy inf don’t of us had 3 passports. Turns out his wife and daughter had not got there yet but he wanted to check them in anyway. They told him they needed to be there. He also thought they could bypass security. He was ages and ages arguing

One of the advantages of having a silver or gold FF membership is you can check in using the business class check-in with no waiting. It's less stressful.

Last time we flew (from Leeds Bradford) we had checked in online, and we used the new bag drop system at the airport. It took very little time at all.

I always print off hard copies of our boarding passes as well as having them on my phone.