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#31
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
And don't forget telephone check-in. I wonder just what "check-in" means. Southwest, which I fly a lot, allows you to "check in" and print your boarding pass as much as 24 hours in advance, over the Internet. Which, obviously, is completely divorced from any implication that you are not stuck in traffic or checking one last e-mail at the hotel or lingering over coffee with your hosts; you have made it to the airport and they can take a good guess whether you can get to your plane on time. That's what I always assumed check-in meant: here I am. Getting back more to the original question, one thing I will say about Southwest -- if it's reasonably close to their flying hours at that airport, they always give you an option for doing things in person at the ticket counter (and in my experience, the person is usually friendly and knows something). Computerized check-in either over the Internet or at a kiosk is something I often find convenient, but I've never seen them *make* anyone do it that way. I wonder if that was a factor in the original poster's situation -- perhaps it speeds things up for some airlines (at least if the traveler isn't ill at ease with computers and/or vision disabled) to do it that way. That's just a guess. Pulling you out of the line and making you poke at a computer is not something for which I have a definite explanation. --Joe |
#32
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
On Oct 24, 2:13 pm, Ad absurdum per aspera
wrote: And don't forget telephone check-in. I wonder just what "check-in" means. Southwest, which I fly a lot, allows you to "check in" and print your boarding pass as much as 24 hours in advance, over the Internet. Which, obviously, is completely divorced from any implication that you are not stuck in traffic or checking one last e-mail at the hotel or lingering over coffee with your hosts; you have made it to the airport and they can take a good guess whether you can get to your plane on time. That's what I always assumed check-in meant: here I am. I've wondered much the same thing. Although if one wants to go back a bajillion years, international flights often requested/required one to call about 48 hours prior, one still "checked in" upon arrival, giving them some idea of how many passengers were going to be flying that day. With the new system, although they get some early idea of how many folks are actually intending upon showing up, there still must be a fairly good "no show" rate for last minute problems. [snip] I wonder if that was a factor in the original poster's situation -- perhaps it speeds things up for some airlines (at least if the traveler isn't ill at ease with computers and/or vision disabled) to do it that way. That's just a guess. Pulling you out of the line and making you poke at a computer is not something for which I have a definite explanation. There is no doubt that the number of people capable of using the kiosk rises to a level where they can process significantly more people in the same amount of time with fewer actual gate agents. When you realize that in some "groups" at least one of the people traveling can do the process for everyone, I'd guess that the number of folks who flat out can't use a kiosk is lower than 10% and it is to the advantage of an airline to identify them and apply resources to them exclusively. Any process of coercing/ cajoling/ redirecting customers at this stage is almost assuredly an attempt to get folks who can, but choose not to, to at least "give it a go". |
#33
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
Ad absurdum per aspera wrote:
And don't forget telephone check-in. I wonder just what "check-in" means. Southwest, which I fly a lot, allows you to "check in" and print your boarding pass as much as 24 hours in advance, over the Internet. Which, obviously, is completely divorced from any implication that you are not stuck in traffic or checking one last e-mail at the hotel or lingering over coffee with your hosts; you have made it to the airport and they can take a good guess whether you can get to your plane on time. It is interesting when standing by for a flight or upgrade on AA, and they tell you they can't add you to the list, because "first class has checked in full".. |
#34
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
On Oct 25, 12:36 am, mrtravel wrote:
[snip] It is interesting when standing by for a flight or upgrade on AA, and they tell you they can't add you to the list, because "first class has checked in full".. I was flying out of Washington National one time, near a weekend, and some guy in front of me was trying to upgrade to FC. The agent told him she'd put him on "the list". He authoritatively informed her that he was "platinum medallion" or some such designation. He seemed quite proud of his status. She drolly informed him that that is why he was on the list at all. About that time some congressman that I recognized at the time strolled out of the elevator. The guy ultimately ended up in coach with me. I strongly suspect the agent wanted to tell the guy he didn't have a prayer. |
#35
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
mrtravel blabbled: irwell wrote: On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:44:48 -0600, DevilsPGD wrote: In message Craig Welch wrote: Tom Peel said: SBC News schrieb: I travel internationally (live in the US) quite often but not exactly every week. What's the problem. You can just walk up to a wall to wall row of checkin machines and be done in 10 seconds, or stand in line for hours with 2000 other punters snaking round the tape barriers and check in the old fashioned way. Your choice. The OP made the point that for some people, using the self check terminal is very difficult. Perhaps. A lot of people don't even try, or otherwise get distracted with "I can't do this" rather then looking at the screen. You are also assuming everybody travelling is able to understand English, which is what most of these machines use. Most of the machhines in the US use English. I don't most machines in non-English speaking countries to be in English. That said, it is interesting that sometime in the past yeara, WAMU (Washington Mutual) in this area has added Russian to their ATMs Oh, that's for the convenience of all those mail - order Russian brides and their nubile daughters you are wont to cart over... :-) -- Best Greg "I am smarter than you think I am" - Maryanne "Loafhead" Kehoe to me in alt.gossip.celebrities |
#36
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
On 25 Oct, 13:16, me wrote:
On Oct 25, 12:36 am, mrtravel wrote: [snip] It is interesting when standing by for a flight or upgrade on AA, and they tell you they can't add you to the list, because "first class has checked in full".. I was flying out of Washington National one time, near a weekend, and some guy in front of me was trying to upgrade to FC. The agent told him she'd put him on "the list". He authoritatively informed her that he was "platinum medallion" or some such designation. He seemed quite proud of his status. She drolly informed him that that is why he was on the list at all. About that time some congressman that I recognized at the time strolled out of the elevator. The guy ultimately ended up in coach with me. I strongly suspect the agent wanted to tell the guy he didn't have a prayer. Sometimes you can get bumped (downgraded) even though you booked the higher class. This can happen on the more popular routes. Someone I know got a free upgrade from econ to FC transatlantic, which is as rare as hens teeth. But of course if you do get upgraded they can sometimes change their mind before departure ... the Lord Give'th and the Lord Take'th Away... |
#37
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
On 24 Oct, 19:13, Ad absurdum per aspera
wrote: And don't forget telephone check-in. I wonder just what "check-in" means. Yes... after you have gone through all the intrigue of on-line check- in and the 'next step' is to take you bag to the airport and drop it of at, erm, 'check-in'... Basically I think it is a way to re-confirm your flight, reduce queuing at the airport, and choose your seat. Downside is small extra admin burden on the passenger, seat choice is never 'guaranteed' and some more things to go wrong... I suppose for the airline you are re-confirming you will turn up, but that is not guaranteed when you 'check-in' 24hours before departure.. |
#38
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
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#39
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New Trend? or Old News? ~~Mandatory~~ self check-in
Someone I know got a free upgrade from econ to FC transatlantic, which is as rare as hens teeth. Never lucked into anything that nice, but one time the Air France gate lady at Charles de Gaulle frowned at the computer screen and took my ticket to the office. This filled my soul with nameless dread for a few moments, of course, but what she came back with was an unwarranted, unexplained, and you'd better believe uncomplained-about upgrade to business class. Maybe not first class but pretty cush all the same. I think that was also the trip where we were delayed on the taxiway and they washed down the explanation with champagne for all passengers in the admittedly not very full 747. Certain US airlines could learn a thing or two from such incidents about how you don't always have much control over travel glitches but you have a fair bit of control over how the customers feel about it all... --Joe |
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