"Frank Slootweg" kirjoitti
l...

"pre-monitoring"? "pre" to *what*?

Relative to check in, of course.

Anyway, (for example) Singapore Airlines says (in the part of the
process which comes after the online/Internet check-in) "check-in your
bags". So an *airline* calls dropping off your luggage which goes into
the hold "check-in" (of luggage). I hope that you don't mind that I use
their use of proper terminology over that of some Usenet poster.

And what are you willing to say by this? You only visit one counter (where
you check in you luggage).

And I explained that there are cases where there are TWO, one for the
passenger check-in and one for the (going into the *hold*) luggage
(security-check/)check-in(/drop-off). You can jump up and down all you
want, but in the real world one plus one equals two.

The problem is your misconception about the check in process. It means that
you and your luggage report for the flight you have reserved and paid for.
It takes place at one counter. Try to understand than when a passenger
checks in for a flight, he does so for his luggage too. This takes place in
one place in front of one and the same counter. Security checks have
nothing to do with this. They take place elsewhere.

I have visited airports were luggage is pre-monitored in a separate
process physically away from the check in counters but all the luggage
goes
through it. Whether you already have a boarding card in your hand or not,
is
not an issue.

In the process I'm describing, it *is* an issue. You must have a
boarding card in order to drop-off you hold luggage at the security-
check/baggage-drop-off counter.

Of course, this takes place

1. at one and the same counter you check in for the flight as a passenger

2. after you have gotten a boarding card by printing it during
a check in procedure whether in internet or by a dedicated,
special purpose machinery at the airport

in either case you check in at ONE check in counter in maximum. One for
luggage and possibly one for a passenger. I guess most pre-check-in systems
print not only boarding passes but tags for luggage as well. So, it is easy
to take a point of view (a valid one) that in such a case you actually don't
check in at counter but show your flight oriented documents (and perhaps
some other documents) to check in personnel proving that you have already
done so. Otherwise we couldn't reasonably talk about "internet check ins",
could we.

Perhaps we should add (those who are dead from their necks up
in mind) that these are not necessarily drop-off points for luggage
Actually
they seldom are. I haven't seen such an arrangement anywhere.

And here we have the crux of the matter: Because you've never seen
them, they don't exist? Get real! They *do* exist, for the (*security*
screening) reasons I mentioned, and using the process I mentioned. Got
it now?

They must be very rare. Check in takes place at one counter.

All the
luggage goes through the inspection in the same fashion. AFTER the
inspection they take different paths: those passengers who haven't
checked
in yet has to do so with their luggage which typically means - especially
at
busy hours - that they have to queue more or less lengthy period of time
while those who have already checked in just leave their luggage to a
drop
of site without much waiting. These terminals are typically ordinary
check
in desks but can also be exclusively built for this purpose. It depends
and
is not anything very relevant.

With the minor, but very important, addition that this droff-off
process is called *check-in* of your luggage. Which makes it the
*second* check-in counter/desk/station/point/whatever, i.e. TWO
check-in thingies. Hardly rocket-science, is it?

There is only one check in counter involved:

And there you check in for a flight from the very beginning to very end of
it. Typically this doesn't take much time. However, when this procedure is
repeated dozens of times before you are in front of the queue, it may take a
good deal of time.


What the heck is this? Check in takes place at one counter and one
counter
only. If you have to visit desks elsewhere at the airport (passport
control,
security check and so on, they are not check in processes).

Wrong. They *are* check-in processes. See above.

Not wrong. They are NOT check in processes. The misconception takes place at
this point. Checking in takes place at specific counters which are called
not too surprisingly "check in counters". You find them at about all
commercial airports.

As far as
luggage probing is concerned, it is all the same whether one has checked
in
for a flight prior to arrival to the airport or at the airport. It
doesn't
make any difference at all. This monitoring process is the same for all
the
passengers with luggage. Do you feel tangled?

Yes, it is the same for all passengers (at least for those with the
same set of flights), but it isn't always done at the same logical or
physical point in the process. *That*'s what I'm saying.

There is no reason to proceed in checking in at several counters. Ask anyone
else in these travel groups and they most likely agree with me.

But their *luggage* isn't neccessarily checked in at that same counter
and that's the whole/my point.

99.9% of all the airports are furnished so that all the CHECK IN process
takes place at ONE counter.

Probably more likely something like 90% these days, but no way 99.9%.

The latter figure is definitely closer to the point.

I have wasted lots of spit to explain that these
security monitoring processes which may take place in dedicated areas
apart
from the check in desks, ARE NOT part of check in process. All passengers
and their luggage goes through it. After this process not you nor your
luggage have been checked in yet if you haven't been clear BEFORE the
inspection. After the luggage inspection, you take it along with you to a
CHECK IN counter, ONE CHECK IN COUNTER in which you leave your luggage
and
receive a boarding card in the case you don't have it in your possession
already.

Well, *I* have never seen *that* process (first luggage inspection and
then (passenger+luggage) check-in). Note that I'm *not* saying it
doesn't exist, just that I've never seen it.

This is very commonplace in these days at large airports. It naturally
depends on the equipments how the screening takes place. However, this has
nothing to do with the number of check in booths involved.

The process *I* am describing is more or less the reverse, first
passenger check-in and then (and a seperate counter) hold-luggage
inspection/check-in/drop-off.

Name one airport in which routines are arranged like this.