What Does "Checking-In" Mean to an Airline?

Airlines typically have a minimum check-in time. For international flights, depending on airport and airline, it may be something like 60 minutes before flight departure. If you don't check-in by the cut-off, the airline could deny boarding and if overbooked could give away your seat. Advanced check-in (commonly as early as 24 hours before departure) could also save you time at the airport.

It doesn't matter if you have checked in online or not if you are not physically at the airport and need to check bags in and miss their deadlines, you will miss your flight back.

I would never risk staying in another country the night before a major flight if I wasn't booked on a through ticket.

If you miss the flight, you miss the flight, it doesn't really matter if you are checked in or not.

However.....

If you check in ahead of time, you get more time if you are running late. After general boarding, if you aren't there, they will start looking for you. The airline doesn't know if you are on an inbound flight, in duty free or hammering them back in a bar. You could still technically get on board just before they close the doors. When making a connection, if you have checked in, all you have to do is drop your ckecked bags rather than go throught the check in process.

But if you miss the flight completely, it really doesn't matter. Checking in might show your intention of making the flight and if they are in a good mood might help out, but in today's airline culture, I doubt it.

I always check in, and print my boarding pass, way before I get to the airport. It almost always saves time. Stuff happens and if I get delayed for some reason, my checking in tells the airline I intend to be there and they won't give away my seat. Hopefully.

As Frank said, checking in gives you a little more time if you are running late. The only flight that I have ever missed is one for which I arrived at the check-in counter/baggage drop in Newark 57 (yes 57) minutes before the scheduled departure. We had not checked in online because there was no computer where I was staying and then we hit the worst traffic that I have ever seen (other than once on I-80 in Indiana). The United employee who helped us told me that 60 minutes before departure, they released our seats to stand-by fliers etc. because we were not checked in but that if we had checked in, we could have just dropped our luggage and headed to security and our deadline would have the boarding deadline which we would have made. Two lessons learned: check in online ahead of time and do not stay 90 minutes from the airport but if you do, plan on a four hour trip to get there (double the expected amount of time and add an hour).

Thomas asks a good question. I would add that demands by United States Homeland Security agencies place very stringent demands on airlines to submit electronic data on the actual persons who board a flight, within some period (I think, maybe, between five and eight hours ) BEFORE their arrival at a U.S. airport. Just a few years after 9/11, some British friends of ours were told to be at Heathrow FIVE hours before their flight so that sudden changes in U.S. demands could be accommodated.

It seems to me that electronically "checking in" does not meet the need to compare your face with your passport and confirm that the person who bought the ticket is going to get on the plane. Electronic advance check-in is incentivized because it saves the airline time, paper, machinery, and personnel. It doesn't satisfy all the regulatory needs of an air trip.

It also does not eliminate the vast, time-consuming luggage and ID lines at the Economy Class check in desks.

Thank you, all! Next time I'll check in for sure. P.S. Our flight was overbooked but we were told that since we had purchased specific seats in advance AND since it was still 90 minutes before the flight, they wouldn't bump us. Had we not purchased the seats, apparently we would have been bumped.

The check in cutoff time and the time that airlines release seats to standby passengers are two different things. Boarding stand bys can be as close as 20 minutes before departure for some airlines. I doubt that paying extra to reserve a specific seat impacts that at all, no matter what an airline employee might hint at. You arrived before the 60 minute minimum for check in, that is why you still had seats.

Not all airlines allow on-line check in for overseas flights. Sometimes you must show up at the check in desk in person.

Not all airlines allow on-line check in for overseas flights. Sometimes you must show up at the check in desk in person.

The usual case of an airline requiring passengers who check in online to present themselves are for departures from domestic locations to international destinations. They airlines are wanting to verify that you have a valid passport (and visa if needed) to avoid fines and the cost of returning you should the destination immigration control deny your landing because of incorrect documentation. The airline pays the fine, not the passenger with invalid documentation.

The airline usually reprints boarding passes after checking passport validity. This will happen when you check baggage. If you do not check baggage, the gate agent will want to see your passport/visa before validating or reissuing your boarding card.

Since I don't check bags, I check into my flight as soon as I can online. When I'm home, I print boarding passes. When I'm on the road, I often have WiFi but no printer so I check in online, then print boarding passes at a kiosk in the airport rather than get in the line (required for people who check bags). I don't push it on arriving early at the airport, but I could get to the gate very efficiently if the need arose.

We've been in a similar predicament where we booked SFO-LHR with Virgin, but later decided to fly to Italy first and bought a ticket from LHR to FCO with British Airways. Well, our flight out of SFO was delayed 3 hours, so we completely missed our connecting flight in LHR. The BA rep was not at all sympathetic and curtly said, "that is what travel insurance is for". While I didn't appreciate her attitude, she was absolutely right. And I DID have travel insurance so I was able to get reimbursed for the cost of the new flight to Rome. Case in point, if ever in this situation again, definitely get a travel insurance policy!

Really good information. Thank you all!

Really good information. Thank you all!