Airline advice?

[Friendly Frog]

Please advise me. What is the advantage of doing the online check in for your flight it you have already selected your seats and you have to check luggage anyway?

Why not just check in when you check your luggage? Either way, you will get the seats you selected when you purchased your tickets, right???

 

[Priorityonecb]

I'd have to say, not necessarily. The last few times we have flown...we have not gotten the seats we were assigned (even when selecting them months in advance). This has become a real sore spot with me regarding the airline industry...as my youngest dd has medical issues and it's just not possible for me to sit away from her. Not that I would want to...she is only 8! United now has self service baggage/check in so that we don't even really see a ticket agent. Even then though, we are usually not seated together and need to try to resolve that at the gate.

 

[KathylovesPooh]

What is the advantage of doing the online check in for your flight it you have already selected your seats and you have to check luggage anyway?

I have found it makes a difference on a full flight when they are going to "bump" someone. Those who check in last are the ones who will be first bumped. When I have checked in on-line (and much earlier than anyone who checked in at the airport, I have been safe). Might be meaningless traveling in October but can be important around the holidays or other peak travel times.

 

[mrsdisneyfan]

Can you check in online at home if you do not have printer to print theboarding passes?

 

[Friendly Frog]

Thanks for the advice.

Both times that I have flown AA and printed my own boarding passes online, when I went to check my luggage they just looked at my printed boarding passes, tore them up and gave me new ones with the same seats. ( Once curbside, once at the counter)

This time I was thinking way bother?

Thanks to your advice, I think I will go ahead and print them again. Better safe than sorry!

 

[MainStreetFan]

Working for a major airline, I will tell you seat selection is the biggest complaint. Picking a seat ahead of time is like requesting a gound floor room. It is a request, not a guarantee. If at any time they change the specific aircraft to a different number aircraft it is possible, everyone who has requested a seat will have it changed. Having said that, any decent airline will always accomodate any disabled person or child. It is a matter of safety to have these people seated with their traveling companion. If you check in at home, you already have your seat assigned and only in a rare instance will the seat be changed. Also, you are right, those who do not have "held" seats will be the first to be bumped in the case of a flight being oversold if there are no volunteers to get off the plane. Which brings up another point. VOLUNTEER!!! you will get a voucher for a future flight (translate: free airfare to WDW) and a seat on another flight. Sometimes only a couple of hours later. Ask the agent for the alternate flight. Also request 1st class. Never hurts and you might get it. Or ask for a 1st class certificate on a future flight. Not all airlines or all cities have them, but again it never hurts to ask.

 

[Paisleyjane]

Can you check in online at home if you do not have printer to print theboarding passes?

Yes, I have done so when travelling, at least with Continental Airlines, you can check in on line, and then just click "reprint boarding passes" on the e-ticket machines and you are on your way.

 

[Friendly Frog]

MainStreetFanGreat, Great advice.

I booked my airfare 5 months in advance and I got pretty good seats. Then 30 days out, yep a plan change, I guess the flight was too empty so they put me on an earlier (darn) return flight with ok seats ( We had isle & center and ended up with window and center, also a little further back in the plane.) What I would hate would be to get moved WAY back. Yuck, that always makes for a "green faced" ride due to my motion sickness issues.

Oh how I WISH I could get bumped, but traveling slow season, I doubt that will ever happen.

BTW, I have always wondered if you are flying on frequent flyer miles do they still offer you an added free flight if you get bumped?



I love you tag fairy, but I need a "airline bump" fairy.

 

[CarolA]

OK.

Here are my thoughts. I rarely bother with "online check in" especially if I have luggage to check. I can count on one hand the number of involuntary bumps I have seen in 15 years of extensive travel. Some things don't worry me too much.

If you do bet bumped on FF miles you get the same perks as those who bumped with tickets. SO on DL you get DL dollars, on SW a free ticket etc...

 

[mrsdisneyfan]

Thanks a lot Paisleyjane. That is just what I wanted to hear.