online check in

monflat

we are heading to spain in 3 weeks and just was wondering what is the benefit of online check in apart from standing in the queue?

Does it mean you can turn up a bit later than the usual 2 hours to the airport
apologies as our flight is at 06.50 am and travelling with 2 girls under 2 so anything for a stressfree morning



Also you know the way they always board children and their parents first
do you actually have to get on at this time when they call
i cant imagine having the patience trying to keep 2 yr old entertained for 5 mins let alone waiting for the whole plane to board.

Random

who are you flying with?

online checkin with ryanair is not optional. its compulsary.

online checkin is optional with aer lingus. it lets you skip the checkin queue and just go to the bag drop. depends on the airport setup that morning on whether it actually saves you any time imo.

you dont have to go on at the start with the kids. if your flying ryanair etc though it will be handy for getting seats together etc

coylemj

monflat wrote: »

we are heading to spain in 3 weeks and just was wondering what is the benefit of online check in apart from standing in the queue?

If it's Aer Lingus, the main benefit is that you can pre-select your seats for free beginning 30 hours before the flight. Other than that, if you're dropping off bags anyway it doesn't make much difference. If you have no check-in bags and you print the boarding card at home, online check-in allows you to go straight to the security queue when you arrive in the airport.

monflat wrote: »

Also you know the way they always board children and their parents first
do you actually have to get on at this time when they call
i cant imagine having the patience trying to keep 2 yr old entertained for 5 mins let alone waiting for the whole plane to board.

If you board early and it's Aer Lingus, the cabin crew will probably give your 2 year old a kid's goodie bag which should keep them entertained. If you don't board early, you'll be stuck waiting down at the gate anyway so what's the difference?

monflat

Random wrote: »

who are you flying with?

online checkin with ryanair is not optional. its compulsary.

online checkin is optional with aer lingus. it lets you skip the checkin queue and just go to the bag drop. depends on the airport setup that morning on whether it actually saves you any time imo.

you dont have to go on at the start with the kids. if your flying ryanair etc though it will be handy for getting seats together etc[/QUOT

sorry flying with aerlingus

thanks for that i suppose i could drop in the bags after online check in and let the husband park the car

Random

i forgot that about picking seats with aer lingus!

monflat

thanks both of you for that
suppose the goodie bag might appeal to her no harm in getting something if its free eh !

ok il be checking in online so

thank you

Yamanoto

On a tangential note with regard to early-morning departures, Aer Lingus now facilitate a bag drop & check-in at T2 the night before travel.

For those travelling with young kids, I think that's a welcome development.

If your flight departs Dublin Airport between 06:00-08:00 in the morning, you can now check-in at the airport between 16:00-20:00 the evening before.

This new service is available for both Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Regional flights. Regardless of the terminal your flight will depart from the following day, all bags need to be dropped in Terminal 2 when availing of this early check-in facility.
Each passenger needs to present themselves to check-in and drop off bags but if you are travelling with immediate family, one member of the family can check-in and drop bags for the group the evening before.

While this facility will save you time the next day, all passengers will still need to leave adequate time in the morning to get through security and to get to their gate. We would recommend that you come to the airport 90 minutes before your flight is due to depart.

http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/knowbeforeyoufly/check-in/check-intimes/

coylemj

Yamanoto wrote: »

On a tangential note with regard to early-morning departures, Aer Lingus now facilitate a bag drop & check-in at T2 the night before travel.

A downtown drop would be much more convenient, the vast majority of people can't use the facility that they've introduced because they don't live near the airport. Considering you're paying at least €20 per bag, they could easily justify a downtown drop, it would probably increase the number of people paying for bags because of the convenience and the service would probably be self-financing as a result.

Was in Saudi Arabia a long time ago and British Caledonian had a downtown bag drop in Jeddah which was the best thing since sliced bread, meant you could drop your bag the day before and the next time you saw it, it was coming off the carousel in Dublin!

Yamanoto

coylemj wrote: »

A downtown drop would be much more convenient, the vast majority of people can't use the facility that they've introduced because they don't live near the airport.

Most in the greater Dublin area are within reasonably easy reach of the M50 corridor. It's also well served by primary routes from surrounding Counties. Personally, I'd consider getting out to the airport on the M50 preferable to a schlep into the city between 4-8pm.

I'm in Kilkenny now - but were I still in Glenageary, I'd be quite content to run the bags out the night before, especially so if I knew it would spare us any additional stress that comes as a consequence of travelling with toddlers in tow.

ThisRegard

If you're travelling with a child with Aer Lingus I don't think you can check in on line.

munchkin_utd

ThisRegard wrote: »

If you're travelling with a child with Aer Lingus I don't think you can check in on line.

i amnt so sure about this.
IIRC some other threads mentioned that it was airport specific, i.e. Munich and many places abroad handled by 3rd parties for example definitely dont allow online checkin for infants but the major hubs like Dublin or Cork do.

BTW, you can also render a normal reservation unable to be checked in online should you make certain changes through the call centre like splitting passengers off a reservation onto a different flight and the likes.

monflat

hey thanks for that
yep a downtown check in would be handy ! we down the country too we be lucky to arrive on time

ThisRegard

munchkin_utd wrote: »

but the major hubs like Dublin or Cork do.

Nope, Dublin don't allow you to check in with a baby or toddler online, I've had the issue a number of times. The main reason I think is so you can't go and take the emergency exit rows and things like that.

munchkin_utd

ThisRegard wrote: »

Nope, Dublin don't allow you to check in with a baby or toddler online, I've had the issue a number of times. The main reason I think is so you can't go and take the emergency exit rows and things like that.

I dont know where I got the idea from that it was possible, but it does indeed seem not to be possible even in Dublin.
Heres a 4page long thread on travelling with toddlers on Aerlingus
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=79980361

We have traveled maybe on a dozen aer lingus return flights with our 2 when one or other was under 2 and we always had a bag so checking in online was never really something we looked into, not to mention that they normally give you better seats at the counter and sometimes a "soft block" on an extra seat so the infant can sit or lie at some stage of the flight.