Airport Check-in
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airport Check-in are service counter found at commercial airports handling commercial air travel. The check-in is normally handled by an airline or a handling agent working on behalf of an airline. Passengers usually hand over any baggage they do not wish to carry-on to the aircraft and receive a boarding card before they can proceed to board their aircraft.
Check-in is usually the first procedure a passenger takes part upon when arriving at an airport as airline regulations for on time departures require passengers check-in by certain times prior to the departure of a flight. This duration spans from 30 minutes to over 2 hours depending on the destination and airline. During this process, the passenger has to ability to ask for special accommodations such as seating preferences, inquire about flight or destination information, make changes to reservations, accumulate Frequent flyer program miles, or pay for upgrades if available or if allowed by the airline's upgrade policy.
Airline check-in's main function, however, is to take in luggage that passengers wish to, or are required to, place within the aircraft's cargo hold.
Check-in procedures vary per airline with some airlines allowing certain restrictions other airlines have in place, and occasionally the same airline at two separate airports may have different check-in procedures due to security restrictions or other factors. Such differences are usually not noted by the average passenger and occasionally leads to service interruption when one carrier refuses to abide by the procedure another carrier normally would be willing to do.
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[edit] Passenger identity registration
At the time of check-in the Agent's primary duty is to check whether all valid documents are in place. This include tickets, invitation letter, valid passport, valid visa etc (depending on the type of visit, the arrival and destination of the trip)
In case of countries like US which has special requirements, passengers have to provide information like name, address and contact details of place they live, place they are taking the flight from and place they intend to stay once in US.
[edit] Baggage registration
At the time of check-in passengers hands over baggage which is checked by the airport security and sealed. They are limitations to how much and what you can carry along with you in the airplane. Anything which is above the weight limit or which is not allowed to be carried is usually handed over to the Agent at the time of check-in.
There is a limitation to how much baggage you can hand over depending on the type and class of your reservation.
[edit] Seating registration
Usually at the time of check-in you are given an option of selecting the seats you want. The Agent may ask you if you want a window or an aisle seat. You could also ask for adjacent seats for you and your companion.
[edit] Special service request
You could ask for assistance at the time of check-in. These request could include wheelchair, baby cradle, baby meals, blind passenger, deaf passenger etc.
[edit] Change reservation
In some situations it may be necessary to change a passenger's travel plans. This may involve changing itinerary, upgrading class of travel, changing to an earlier/later flight.
[edit] Lounge access
If the passenger presents a certain Frequent flyer program membership card or any other arrangements with the carrier, the agent may offer him access to the lounge, where he could relax until it's time for boarding.
