Online Check-In Question

[BloodyDogHairs]

How does the online check-in work? I understand that I check in from home so do I print off my own boarding passes?

At the airport I will go to the bag drop section but is a staff member still there to put the luggage labels on and check passports etc

And finally does it save time compared to just checking in normally at the desk.

Yes you need to print off the boarding passes.

There should be a staff member at the bag drop; this person should print out the luggage label for each piece of hold luggage. I've always used a check in desk anyway particularly if the bag drop lines are lengthy.

Re the online check in the "manage my booking" part of the website should ask you initially for both the booking reference (usually made up of a mixture of 6 numbers and letters) and surname. Once these are imputed it will take you further into the online check in process.

Thankyou, I don't fly until June but this is the 1st time I'll be doing it online before we fly.

I always do it, but so do so many other people that it does not seem to make baggage drop etc any quicker.

i don't think it makes any of it any quicker. its for the convenience of the airlines not the passengers and something that you just have to "do" these days.

Also you will get better pick of seats if you check in exactly 24h before. Unless you have pre-reserved in which case I don't really see the advantage.

Tbh Id only do online check in for (1) hand luggage only flights or (2) if I wanted to be certain about seat allocations.

If Im dropping luggage or onpy travellibg with dh I dont bother.

Yes we always do online check in as the flights are sometimes overbooked. They do even warn of this on the ticket if you have booked through a travel agent.

Then you can either just go to baggage drop or to the counter, we just do which ever queue is shorter.

But the main reason, is that if it is an international flight, it changes the time for which you need to be at the airport, from 3 hours to 1 hour....

We use BA and usually go from T5, Heathrow. There is virtually never a queue at bag drop. We just sail through!! Some airlines let you chose the seats early , for a fee. We often move the seats forward if we have been allocated near the back. Sometimes check in can be 3 days in advance but BA is 24 hours. If it won't let you print a boarding pass, beware, the aircraft is overbooked!

Thanks for replying, its a longhaul flight Glasgow to Sanford Florida flying with Thomson. I'm sure it'll be straight forward it's just I usually fly with Thomas Cook and never had to check-in online.

Many airlines let you check in online earlier than 24 hours, so it's worth going on their website to see - that way you get to choose your seats in plenty of time.

Also, sometimes you can get the boarding passes sent to your mobile, so you don't need to print anything off.