Tag Archives for checkin.
A passenger flying American Airlines out of Orlando Melbourne International Airport says he was effectively removed from his flight thanks to understaffed and unresponsive employees. “Rules are rules.”
Starting June 3, you’ll have to check in earlier if you want to fly United Airlines. In an internal memo, the airline stays that customers without bags will have to check in at least 45 minutes prior to their flight. The current rule is 30 minutes. If you don’t make it in time, you’ll lose your seat.
Baymont Inns seems to have a new take on the labor-saving strategy. They’ve got an outsourced front desk. Instead of having to hire American staffers to work on property, they supplement their employees with kiosks that give you a live person in India. The agent will interact with you just like they were across the desk.
Air travel is supposed to be about making it from one place to another as quickly as possible. It seems as though we’ve forgotten this.
Priority check-in lines are generally for people traveling in a premium class of service. At some airlines this can even mean premium economy. It’s also for an airline’s frequent flyers who hold eligible status. And it can even be for a credit card customer.
The person minding the line, though, generally has no idea whether you’re eligible or not. They’ll ask you if you’re eligible, and if you say yes you can wait in line.
Long check-in lines are de rigueur in Las Vegas. People go to Vegas for a break, and the start of their trip is a queue – probably first for the ride from the airport to their hotel, and then to get into their room. What could be more of a mass experience, and what could make an upscale hotel feel more like Circus Circus than this?
This is reportedly a bigger problem at Caesars hotel properties like Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood than at MGM hotels, and something that really began in earnest over the last couple of years due to insufficient staffing.
United Airlines has updated its ‘contract of carriage‘ to double the amount of time you have to show up in advance at the airport, though they aren’t enforcing this yet.
Since Southwest is no longer selling Early Bird check-in on every flight, and not selling it on the flight I wanted to buy, I simply… didn’t buy the Southwest Airlines flight. And I won’t buy Southwest flights without it most of the time, and certainly not for a two and a half hour flight.
A guest checking in at Caesars Palace Las Vegas gave up when faced at a 3 to 4 hour long line at the desk. They left, with their luggage, and enjoyed Vegas returning shortly before 2 a.m.
Still faced with impossible check-in queues, they report giving up – and managing to get into a different hotel at 4:30 in the morning.
Caesars had been overbooked, and there were no more rooms left by the time they got to the front of the line. Altogether, venture capitalist Benjamin Lee notes, “it took..9.5 hours” to get a bed.
American Airlines and British Airways have done a nice job with their new premium check-in area at New York JFK terminal 8, which takes inspiration from the old Flagship check-in in the same space at the airport and from the British Airways First Wing at London Heathrow.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
