Airline kiosk and desk questions

Sometimes you will be told, by the kiosk interface, to go to the counter so that your passport can be checked. If this were a strictly domestic flight, that would not happen.

Yes, you should receive boarding passes at the kiosk for your connecting flight.

I recommend getting the BA app on your phone, could come in handy for flight updates, gate changes, etc. Makes it easier to check in online 24 hours in advance. Otherwise, are you planning to check in online through a computer at home?

Make sure your passport information s entered in the app. You didn’t say where you were traveling, but usually if you go to manage my flight on the app it will tell you if you need any other additional paperwork. Nonetheless you will not be able to check in at a kiosk. You will need to go to the desk to show your passport. Get to the airport at least 3 hours before your flight as there will be many folks doing the same and staffing at the desk may not be great.

I did download the app to receive updates, etc. I wouldn’t mind trying to check in through it when able, or using my home computer, but I wasn’t sure about the other members of my family who aren’t with me. If they have the booking number can they go in and do so as well even if the tickets are under my name (I booked them)?

When checking in what matters is that the name of the passenger/traveler is included in the reservation/confirmation profile in the airlines system and that that passenger provides identification to support the information that was provided at the point of purchase.

Each member of your party should get the phone app, and you should share the confirmation code and locator info with them. As someone points out, you may or may not be able to check in on line for the international flight, but you will know that if/when you try to check in through the app or online.

Each ticket is under the travelers name, not yours, so make sure it matches the name on their passport. If you and your party do not want to use the online app, everyone will have to go to the airline counter in order to check passports and get all the individual boarding passes. You should receive the boarding pass for your connecting flight at that time. It saves a lot of time to use the app. I know with the United app, we are able to download our passports and obtain our boarding passes online. As you board the plane your picture is taken that syncs with and verifies your passport picture. We did this with AA, also. I don’t know how it works with BA but if the line is not long I would opt for the counter versus trying to deal with the kiosk, those things never work well for me :-).

I think there is a fair bit of incorrect info posted in this thread. Most of my travels are on star alliance carriers so what follows may be slightly different for some of the other carriers but should be similar

1). In general, you will need to have entered your passport info into the app for you to check in
2) Unless the destination country requires a visa based on your passport, you should be able to check in on the app. For example, when traveling to India or places like Algeria which require a visa, I am never allowed to check in online/via the app and need to go to the counter so someone can verify you have the visa. In this case, even a kiosk will not work
3). I am always able to check in all passengers on the same Rez (I.e. same record locator) so long as I have stored their passport info on my phone
4). With the boarding passes, you can then proceed directly to the gate where a passport check will be done

Lastly, I have not tried this where different folks on the same Rez have different passports which may throw things off

In summary, you should be able to do all this at home without needing to use a kiosk unless there are special circumstances for the folks traveling with you

I use the BA app a lot, so for the avoidance of doubt- yes, you can check in everyone on the same ticket on the app and get the boarding passes. These can then be saved in your Apple wallet (or Android equivalent) and from there you can send them to the other travellers by text. If no one has any checked luggage you can go straight to security. It's true if you are going somewhere that requires a visa they do ask you do to a visa check which they do at the check-in counter (sometimes even if it's a place that does visa on arrival).

I book United mostly. In April I flew out of San Diego to France. As in the past, with United, I was able to check in online using the app with my passport downloaded.

A few days ago l flew from Ft. Myers FL to Montenegro. I was not able to check in online. For some reason they wanted to physically verify my passport. Oddly enough when I changed planes to Turkish Airlines they called me to the gate desk to verify my passport again. Seemed odd as normally other codeshares did not check my passport after United accepted it during check in.

I would try to checkin online & if they don’t let you, off to the checkin counter you go.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. It’s times like this when I really do feel like the age of technology is kicking my age’s rear end. Plus I have such a fear of stolen/hacked information bc of my naïveté in these matters, especially when using my phone. I’m just not savvy with using it. At home online check is looking like an option, especially if you’re saying my kids can do their own using the reservation number and their personal info which matches the reservation with BA.

Thank you again!

jennya summed things up nicely. It's small victory when you can check in on your app and get your tickets downloaded as opposed to having to go to the counter. One hassle avoided.

I agree with the others. When I took my two grandkids to London this year, I had all their passport information in there, but told my grandson, who has a phone, to download the Delta app so that he could check in online. I then used my phone for my granddaughter, but it was still very easy checking us both in online on my phone. My grandson was 15 but he had no problems checking in, and it was saved to his Apple Wallet. When we went through security, I just used my phone for both of us and my grandson came in on his own.

As BIg Mike said, you can avoid that one extra step (which could potentially be a headache) of having to use the kiosk.

since you mention London and Glasgow in recent posts and BA in the question, just to mention if you are entering the UK all members of the party must have their ETA completed. Might be worth double checking with the others.

Hi Nigel, that’s taken care of for everyone. I also secretly patted my non- techie self on the back for doing it through the app on the first try! :)

I think I am overthinking this (something I am really bad about!) and we’ll be fine with doing everything ahead. If not, we’re planning on getting to IAD early enough to use the kiosks if we need to. My two adult kids are way more proficient at apps, etc. things like this than me, even though none of us fly extensively abroad.

We’re getting excited for our trip! The transportation part will sort itself out, I am sure. It’s all a part of the life long learning process I guess!