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

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

#21

Post by bombcar »

thomasahle wrote: post #3

> 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.

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).

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

#22

Post by etrautmann »

jaywalk wrote: post #13
thomasahle wrote: post #3

> 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.

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 intoxicate…

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.

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

#23

Post by raverbashing »

iams wrote: post #20
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #17

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…

> 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.

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.

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

#24

Post by techsupporter »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #17

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…

> one carrier always has the best rates for my city, middlemen rarely/never cost less

Couple of things: First, the post is from 2014 which was still during the rise of online travel agents like Expedia and Orbitz and Travelocity and all of their kin. There was a lot of money sloshing around in those companies to try to give "exclusive discounts" to customers so that people would become accustomed to using the online travel agent instead of booking direct. Bundled travel packages are still very much a part of this and the spiff from a hotel being included can be used to buy down the cost of your ticket so the package looks cheaper.

Second, if you are in a city where one carrier is in a position to dominate the rates for your area, an online travel agent isn't going to help you much and the carriers to your area know this so there's little incentive to try to slash prices to compete. But related to this is that a lot of people don't know that, so they still go to the sites they see advertised on TV or elsewhere and plug in a starting point, a destination, some dates, then sort "lowest to highest" and pick the smallest number next to the $ sign.

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

#25

Post by hammock »

londons_explore wrote: post #8

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."

This scenario has happened to me with Amtrak. It also applies to some coach bus services.

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

#26

Post by Naga »

thomasahle wrote: post #3

> 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.

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.

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

#27

Post by jaywalk »

etrautmann wrote: post #22
jaywalk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 intoxicate…

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.

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.

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

#29

Post by rwmj »

johnshaft1000 wrote: post #4

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

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.

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

#30

Post by dboreham »

Naga wrote: post #26
thomasahle wrote: post #3

> 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.

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.

Sitcoms aren't set in reality in general though. People who are unemployed actors live in $1M apartments in Manhattan, for example.
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