Checking in with Aer Lingus

Conall Cernach

This is just a quick query.

I am flying out of Dublin with Aer Lingus on Saturday. I received an email from them saying "don't forget to check in online up to 30hrs beforehand". Do I have to check in online for Aer Lingus as I am aware some airlines require this now? Or can I just go up to a check in desk as I would have done previously? I have bags that need dropping anyway. I'd rather check in with a person and I don't have access to a printer at home either.

Conall Cernach

Conall Cernach wrote: »

.............. I'd rather check in with a person and I don't have access to a printer at home either.

You can check in with their app and the boarding pass will be on your phone than

spurious

Yes, you can check in with a person at the airport - or at one of their little stand things. There are staff there to help you. It prints the tag for the bag etc..

Riskymove

Augeo wrote: »

You can check in with their app and the boarding pass will be on your phone than

You can check in at self service kiosks, print card and then go to bag drop

Conall Cernach

Thanks guys, it was just the email threw me a bit. I think at this stage I must be the only person in the country without a smart phone. Maybe it's time to make the leap.

coylemj

Conall Cernach wrote: »

I am flying out of Dublin with Aer Lingus on Saturday. I received an email from them saying "don't forget to check in online up to 30hrs beforehand".

That e-mail suggests that if you want to check-in online, you must do so more than 30 hours before the flight which is not the case.

What it deliberately avoided telling you is that beginning 30 hours before the flight and up to two hours before take-off, you can check-in online and select your seat for free.

If you followed the advice in that e-mail and checked-in more than 30 hours beforehand, you would be forced to select a seat and you'd be charged for the privilege.

Even if you can't print the boarding card at home, you can still check-in online and select the seat, just wait until after 30 hours before the flight. Even if you did print the boarding card at home, the check-in clerk will offer to print it again anyway when you're dropping off your bag.

VictorRomeo

1 - Check in on your phone - it will provide you with a digital boarding card. It's by far the best way and you can select your seat while you're at it.

2 - If the app does not suit you, still, check in online and chose print boarding card from kiosk option. You can still select your seat based on availability.

3 - Bag-drop is now an automated process too. Interacting with a human at check-in and bag-drop is being phased out. It's super easy. There will be staff on hand to assist if needed. You might need it the first time but it's a breeze.

4 - Checking in via the app and automated bag-drop saves so much time over the old way.

John.G

coylemj wrote: »

That e-mail suggests that if you want to check-in online, you must do so more than 30 hours before the flight which is not the case.

What it deliberately avoided telling you is that beginning 30 hours before the flight and up to two hours before take-off, you can check-in online and select your seat for free.

If you followed the advice in that e-mail and checked-in more than 30 hours beforehand, you would be forced to select a seat and you'd be charged for the privilege.

Even if you can't print the boarding card at home, you can still check-in online and select the seat, just wait until after 30 hours before the flight. Even if you did print the boarding card at home, the check-in clerk will offer to print it again anyway when you're dropping off your bag.

Have checked in on-line and printed boarding passes but would like to put our two 10 Kg bags in the hold, can I go to bag drop and request this or do I have to go to check in to request it as obviously I don't have baggage tags as its "carry on" luggage. Previously I used to check in at the desk and they take the 10 kg bags there.

coylemj

John.G wrote: »

Have checked in on-line and printed boarding passes but would like to put our two 10 Kg bags in the hold, can I go to bag drop and request this or do I have to go to check in to request it as obviously I don't have baggage tags as its "carry on" luggage. Previously I used to check in at the desk and they take the 10 kg bags there.

Did you pay for those bags when making the booking? If you did then go to bag drop and print the tags, you can't print them at home. Otherwise, add those bags to your booking online i.e. before you go to the airport and then go to bag drop. If you leave it to when you get to the airport, you will need to go to go to the regular check-in desk and pay and it will cost more.

John.G

coylemj wrote: »

Did you pay for those bags when making the booking? If you did then go to bag drop and print the tags, you can't print them at home. Otherwise, add those bags to your booking online, if you leave it to when you get to the airport, it will cost more.

This is HAND luggage which most people bring on board and is free, I just want to put them in the hold as I always do but this time I checked in online but don,t want to bring the two 10 kg (free) bags on board. (I can't add them on-line?)

coylemj

John.G wrote: »

This is HAND luggage which most people bring on board and is free, I just want to put them in the hold as I always do but this time I checked in online but don,t want to bring the two 10 kg (free) bags on board. (I can't add them on-line?)

There isn't really an official process for what you want to do which is to effectively check in a bag without paying. What you could do is to keep to the back of the queue when boarding and if the flight is full or near full, there is a reasonable chance that they will take the bag off you at the gate, tag it and send it to the baggage handlers whether you want them to do so or not.

But if the flight is lightly loaded and they feel that the overhead bins can take the carry-on bags, they may decline to take the bag from you at the gate. And if you are one of the last to board and they are not intending to confiscate bags at the gate, the bags that were checked in earlier may be already in the hold with the door closed in which case there is no way they will accept the bag from you.

John.G

coylemj wrote: »

There isn't really an official process for what you want to do which is to effectively check in a bag without paying. What you could do is to keep to the back of the queue when boarding and if the flight is full or near full, there is a reasonable chance that they will take the bag off you at the gate, tag it and send it to the baggage handlers whether you want them to do so or not.

But if the flight is lightly loaded and they feel that the overhead bins can take the carry-on bags, they may decline to take the bag from you at the gate. And if you are one of the last to board and they are not intending to confiscate bags at the gate, the bags that were checked in earlier may be already in the hold with the door closed in which case there is no way they will accept the bag from you.

That's how it worked out, as there was only ~ 68 on the outbound flight and over 100 on the return flight, they declined to take them at check in outbound, but put them in the hold on the return.

coylemj

John.G wrote: »

That's how it worked out, as there was only ~ 68 on the outbound flight and over 100 on the return flight, they declined to take them at check in outbound, but put them in the hold on the return.

Thanks for the feedback.

BTW, did you mean 'boarding' (i.e. at the gate) instead of 'check-in'? Because I assume they will always take a bag from you at check-in - if you pay the appropriate charge.

John.G

coylemj wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback.

BTW, did you mean 'boarding' instead of 'check-in'? Because I assume they will always take a bag from you at check-in - if you pay the appropriate charge.

We rarely check in ON-line with A.Lingus and always only carry 10 Kgs "free" bags and when we go to check in they normally just take our bags (if requested) and put them in the hold (for free) as we just find this more convenient. It was just that this time I checked in on line (to avail of the free seating) and still wanted to put the bags in the hold. The A.lingus rep told me that irrespective of whether I check in online or not that it is at their discretion re taking the 10 kg bags into the hold (free) and I have absolutely no problem with this.

coylemj

John.G wrote: »

We rarely check in ON-line with A.Lingus and always only carry 10 Kgs "free" bags and when we go to check in they normally just take our bags (if requested) and put them in the hold (for free) as we just find this more convenient. It was just that this time I checked in on line (to avail of the free seating) and still wanted to put the bags in the hold. The A.lingus rep told me that irrespective of whether I check in online or not that it is at their discretion re taking the 10 kg bags into the hold (free) and I have absolutely no problem with this.

So what you're saying is that if you have not paid to check-in a bag, you can still walk up to the check-in desk (not the boarding gate) and ask if they will take the (<10 kgs) bag into the hold for free and sometime they will do this?

If they refuse to accept it for free, it is because the check-in clerk is in a bad mood or there's a supervisor about or..... I don't get why they would expect you to pay when booking but then accept the bag for free at check-in

I know that this is hit and miss at the gate and you mentioned this above, I just never heard that it can be done at the check-in desk.

John.G

coylemj wrote: »

So what you're saying is that if you have not paid to check-in a bag, you can still walk up to the check-in desk (not the boarding gate) and ask if they will take the (<10 kgs) bag into the hold for free and sometime they will do this?

If they refuse to accept it for free, it is because the check-in clerk is in a bad mood or there's a supervisor about or..... I don't get why they would expect you to pay when booking but then accept the bag for free at check-in

I know that this is hit and miss at the gate and you mentioned this above, I just never heard that it can be done at the check-in desk.

Yes, we (used to) never check in online and obviously then have to go to check in, it was a A.Lingus check in person that suggested to us a few years ago now if we would like to have the 10 Kg bags put in the hold and we were delighted as it saved opening the bags at security and taking out all those 100 ml containers in plastic bags and putting them back in the bags again, most people with the 10 kg bags prefer (obviously) to carry the bags on board as it means a quick exit at the other end.
I certainly wouldn't go to the gate as there is no advantage whatsoever for me in doing that (apart from the fact that they would most certainly NOT take them there) as I would have had to pass through security first and remove/replace the 100 ml containers.
The only reason for my original post was to see if they would still put the 10 kg
bags in the hold if I had already checked in on line and they did, at their discretion. You can't AFAIK check in a 10 Kg bag online except one is daft enough to pay for a 20 Kg bag or in my case 2X20 kg bags, one would then just put the contents of the 2X10 kg bags into 1X20 kg bag BUT THEN PAY FOR IT.

Caranica

Aer Lingus sometimes sends texts offering free check in for cabin bags. Great not to have to mind it around the airport and not to have to worry about liquid sizes. However I've noticed it's only ever one way and never on the return leg so if you do pack large liquids you have to pay to check the bag in on the way back.