Got a reservation number but CANNOT check in online?

proteuspal

Hi all,
back in August I booked my Christmas holidays back to Ireland from the UK. I booked a flight to Dublin on Dec 23rd and the return for Jan 5th. About 2 weeks ago, the opportunity came up to leave 2 days earlier, on December 21st and still return on Jan 5th. I checked up the cost on changing the booking, only to realise this costs 25 EURO, which costed more than the actual flight. So i thought stuff that, Ill just book the one way flight on December 21st, then make sure I check in online for both the one way on dec 21st and the return flight on dec 23rd, then fly on the 21st and forfeit the flight on the 23rd, enjoy my christmas and fly back on the return leg of the return flight. Just now I checked in online for the one way for December 21st. I then attempted to check in online for the return on December 23rd, but it is having none of it. Yes, yes, perhaps I tried to be a little too clever, but i did not want to fork out 25 euro, when the damn flight did not even cost that much.
Has this happened anyone on here? Can anyone offer advice? Do you reckon its too late to get a refund for the return on Dec 23rd?
Your help is greatly appreciated
Proteuspal

havana

Who did you book with? I have done this a few times with ryanair with no problems. But as far as i know with some airlines, such as aer lingus you can only do online check in if you are flying from or to certain airports. Btw I doubt you will get a refund on the flight you don't use, unless you have a pretty flexible fare whit usually cost a lot more.

havana

Actually why do you want to check in for the flight on the 23rd? You're not going to use that? Or have i read it wrong?

proteuspal

Hi Havana, I am flying with Ryanair. The reason I want to check in for the flight on the 23rd is so I can use the return leg for that particular booking. That flight goes out on the 23rd and returns on Jan 5th. I felt that I would need to check in online for the whole job so that I can use the return on January 5th.
Many thanks

havana

Even though you book the two legs together you are really booking two separate flights. You can check in for them separately. I'm trying to remember the exact details of the times i did this but i know for sure i was able to check in for just one leg of the trip and print out the boarding pass. There is really no connection between the flights. It's not like in the old days when you were actually booking a return flight.

undo

As others have said - Ryanair do not sell return or connecting flights, ever. Any booking with them is for one or more single flights. The main motivation is so that they are not responsible if you miss one flight because another Ryanair flight was late.

In cases like yours, it plays out to your advantage. You can safely ignore any flights you intend to not take, checking in for those that you actually want only - even if you booked them at the same time. You will not be able to check in for your 23rd December or 5th January flights quite yet as check-in is only possible 14 days in advance. Just wait a bit and then check in for your 5th January flight. Easy.

In theory, checking in for the 23rd December flight will do no harm. If you do not show, your booking for that flight is forfeit anyway, whether you checked in or not. In practice though, I have had Ryanair call out my name when I checked in and did not fly. No bother, nothing happened - but I figure it is not a nice thing to make them go through that extra hassle if you know you are not flying anyway. The best thing to do is simply forget that you ever had a 23rd December flight.

And finally, just for completeness' sake: If you had booked with a traditional airline where the outbound and return flight form one entity, you would actually have been totally screwed. In such cases, if you do not actually fly your outbound leg, the return leg is canceled, no exceptions. So even if you checked in for December 23rd, the 5th January flight would get canceled if you did not show up at the airport... But that is a moot point as with Ryanair, there is no such problem.

Enjoy your Christmas break.

proteuspal

Ah ok, thanks undo. Good point about the 14 day thing, thats prob why I canot check in for the flight on the 23rd!


Here is my plan, let me know what you think.

I will check in for the whole return flight on the 23rd December in a few days time (once I get inside the 14 day window for online check in). At least then I will know if it is possible to check in online and should have boarding cards printed. It would be awful to get to early January and realise there was an issue and have to resolve it over the phone.

I reckon it makes life easier and allows me time to sort things should I need it if I check in online for the flight on the 23rd December.

As an aside, are you saying that if i did not bother to check in for the flight on the 23rd, I could still check in for the return flight on January 5th?

When i attempted to check in online here is the message that came up: The details you entered in order to retrieve your reservation did not match those on record. Please verify the information is correct and try again-has anyone ever encountered that message before and does it sound about right for someone trying to check in too early?If so, I can rest easy!

I apologise for the length of these messages!
Many thanks

undo

proteuspal wrote: »

I will check in for the whole return flight on the 23rd December in a few days time (once I get inside the 14 day window for online check in). At least then I will know if it is possible to check in online and should have boarding cards printed.

You will not be able to check in for the 5th January flight before 22nd December. As I said before, what you bought are separate flights. You can check in for the 23rd December flight soon but the flight back will not be open for check-in yet. Remember, what you bought are separate flights, not a return flight. The check-in window for 23rd December will open soon. The window for 5th January is still a few weeks away.

I reckon it makes life easier and allows me time to sort things should I need it if I check in online for the flight on the 23rd December.

It has zero influence on your 5th January flight whether you check in for the 23rd December one or not. You can do it if you feel like it... The only effect would be that they might call your name at the airport. So the only reason for checking in for that flight I can see is to get back at MoL and annoy him a little .

As an aside, are you saying that if i did not bother to check in for the flight on the 23rd, I could still check in for the return flight on January 5th?

Yes. Those are separate flights with separate check-in windows. Whether you take one of them has no influence whatsoever on the other.

When i attempted to check in online here is the message that came up: The details you entered in order to retrieve your reservation did not match those on record. Please verify the information is correct and try again-has anyone ever encountered that message before and does it sound about right for someone trying to check in too early?If so, I can rest easy!

The error message is somewhat confusing, true... But all it means is that your flight is not in the check-in database yet - because it is still too early.

Finally, one last bit that might be useful: Even though your flights are all separate, the two flights you booked together (23rd December and 5th January) share a booking number and are handled via the same database entry. When the time comes to check in for your 5th January flight, you will likely find that entering the details of that flight (say Dublin to London) will produce an error message. Instead, you have to enter the details of the first flight on that booking - in your case, the 23rd December one, for example London to Dublin. This is somewhat silly as you are entering the details for a flight in the past... but this is how their system works.

proteuspal

Ah brilliant, I fully follow you now undo. I think the reason I was confused about the check in business was because i generally fly home for weekends, and so checking in in those situations means I can check in a few days in advance and I covers me for both going over and coming back. Ive never booked such a long trip with ryanair before.
Thankyou very much for your help. I was worried ryanair were going to screw me over!
Kind regards

flikflak

Please do not check in for the leg of the flight you do not intend turning up for. People on the plane do not want to wait another 10 mins while the staff put out calls looking for you. By checking in you are saying you will be on the plane. If you are then not on the plane it takes time for the ground and cabin staff to mark you as not on board.

Only check in for the flights you are actually going to take please - for the sake of everyone sat on the plane waiting to take off.

proteuspal

I will be sure to only check in for the return leg. Thanks to all for helping me get to the bottom of this query!
Kind regards