NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia has expanded its online check-in to include five regional cities, for a total of 29 destinations. Passengers flying from Podgorica, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tivat and Tirana will now be able to complete their check-in formalities online. Online check-in is available for all flights departing from Belgrade. The option is available between 36 hours to one hour prior to departure.
Yay! While all of us flying at the ungodly hour in the middle of the night from LCA are forced to come early to the airport, wait in line and check-in. Cool.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they offer this service from LCA airport too? Is it a problem with the airport operator or is it JU specific?
DeleteDoes any other airline offer online check in from Cyprus?
@Anonymous Yes WizzAir
DeleteAll airlines I've flown with from Larnaca had it. I think JU is the only one that didn't have it. I thought RO didn't but I was informed later on they actually do.
DeleteNemjee LCA is listed as available for online checkin at Air Serbia site. Are you sure you can't use JU online checkin from now on at LCA?
DeleteIt wasn't available the last time I flew so they probably added it now with Tirana, Skopje... I am flying with them on LCA-BEG in two weeks so I'll see if it's working then- hope it is!
DeleteThat said, I noticed they have a new feature, they started charging more to book a window seat.
@Nemjee 5 euros
DeleteTo su trebali mnogo ranije da omoguce. Pod hitno trebaju da omoguce uslugu iz svih gradova iz kojih lete ka Bg.
ReplyDeleteDumb question (and please go easy on me, I'm a very casual aviation fan, no expert by any means): what's the point of online checkins? How do airlines use that info? I imagine that in the past checkins meant that the passenger is at the airport, their luggage is in so they are likely to board as well. There was value in that info, logistically. Nowadays, I can checkin for a flight that's tomorrow, and still not even make it to the airport. So what's the point of checking in?
ReplyDeleteonline chkin means that you need less check-in agents in the airport which also means that you pay less to ground handling company - so basically, companies saves money in this way. also, if you have just hand luggage - you can go straight on the gate which means "no one will see you until boarding gate". Also, some companies have local hired staff in some airports and, after years of monitoring they online check-in %, they "close" stations and they use ground handling company, for example, that happen with Air France in Zagreb, when number of online chkin pax was high enough, they fired local AF staff, same goes with Lufthansa in Zagreb and other stations around Europe.
DeleteAnonymus 18:48, this is not the answer for the question raised at 16:47. The question is what is actually the purpose of check-in. Why can't you fill all the data when you buy the ticket online? Why doing this later, what is the additional value? Your answer is describing what should I do as a passanger ("guest") in order to save time and money. But not answer what is the point of all this.
DeleteThe idea of online check-in is simply because it saves the airline much time, money, staff. It also increases its punctuality rate when passenger handling is reduced.
DeleteIt also saves them paper and ink hence many airline encourage you to do via your mobile (smartphone) device.
Formalities are decreased. The airline also saves money if it leaves on time.
Finally, it can also offer the client a lower price if all the above mention is saved:
- Paper
- Staff
- Formalities
Many airports are now equipped with automatic scanners to detect the boarding cards with the barcode so that the procedure is stress-free, quick, efficient and reliable.
The electronic tickets also saved the airlines so much resources. Airlines no longer need to rent offices, bi-monthly billing is electronic, interline agreements are easier and much more.
In other words, the less paper and procedures, the more efficient and productive an airline is.
You will also realise that FR, W6 or U2 would charge you dearly if you do not check in online, precisely because of the above mentioned - saving costs and generating more income. After all, airlines are born to make money and not charity.
Still no answer to the original question which, I agree, is very interesting. I heard recently of some airline that checks you in automatically at the point of purchase, which seemed logical to me. And then I wondered the same - why DO we still have that extra step of checking in? I honestly don't see why it can't be dropped.
DeleteBecause not all who buy a ticket end up flying. Checking-in for a flight shows the airline that there are big chances of that passenger making it to the flight. Furthermore it's easy for airlines such as FR or W6 to check you in weeks in advance when they have one aircraft type. Imagine the mess at JU when an Atr goes tech and is replaced by a B733. It happened to me in Vienna once and we all had to get new boarding passes with new seats at the gate.
DeleteI am flying BEG-ATH-LCA again in two weeks and originally my plane on ATH-LCA was supposed to be an A320 but now I see it's an A321. If we were all checked-in when buying our tickets, the airline would have so much work in re-doing the check-in process. Like this there is no work for them since we do it ourselves 48 hours before take off.
There are also things such as weight and balance which are also taken into consideration.
Now if you check-in at home and not make it to the airport then the airline can see in the system if you have luggage or not. If you don't have any then they simply change the information on the load sheet, the cross out the passenger number when the flight was closed and put the final one. Next to the total passenger weight they take off 80 kilos and that's it.
If you checked-in and if you had luggage, then they check if your bag was actually dropped off at the counter. If it was then they have to find where it was placed in the plane and take it off (if you checked-in but you are not flying or you don't make it to the gate in time). Then both the passenger and the luggage are removed from the load sheet.
Online check-in can be a mess when it's a small plane that's also full. Last month I was on JU's VIE-BEG that was fully booked, I think we were 67/69 passengers. The lady at the gate got a list of all of us who checked-in online and she called us individually to see if our hand-luggage can fit in the cabin or if it can go with the rest of the luggage and be delivered at the door after landing.
So yes, in theory online check-in was supposed to make life easier for airlines but now given the mess with hand luggage it actually created extra obligations as there is no longer a check-in process where they could offer right away to put your bag in the aircraft belly. That's something Wizz Air and Ryanair struggle with since they rip passengers off who want to have checked-in luggage.
Hope this answered your question.
Dude, you sound like a broken record with Larnaca. Why don't you move there? Again, not the right theory but good effort.
DeleteSo if my theory is not right why don't you share you own which I suppose is the right one? As for LCA, why do you care? I have practical examples since I fly there four, five times a year. I lived there for 15 years before moving back to Serbia a few years ago.
DeleteI guess it's easier for you to be an anonymous ass than to write constructive comments and answers.
Nemjee, thank you for the answer which I believe is more or less describing the purpose of check in. Exactly as the first anonymus predicted, the online check-in is not as usufal for the airline as is the real physical because it is not giving the information if the passenger is present or not. E.g. with W6 you can check in 30 days in advance and still there is plenty of time to actually not come to the airport or also for the airline to change the aircraft. The same applies for the 48 hours but with less probability...
DeleteNemjee, that is quite good summary for check-in case.
DeleteProbably there is some more into it - for example if you checked in at airport, airline know that you are there and want to fly, so if you forget to show at gate there will try to call you and find you. Also, cases of overbooking on longhauls are not that rare, so check in helps to determine actual numbers of passenger.
And of course, this is kind a legacy way of doing it, if you want to implement new procedure you are very careful because it should be to hundreds of airports, airlines and god knows how many passengers.
As a check in agent, I'll try to explain it to you. Online check in is one of the worst things airport stuff comes to. People who do online check in might need a visa for their trip, and by doing online check in, passenger is already at the gate. What do you think would happen if visa has expired? You have to offload that passenger. Company has a list of passengers who are checked in for that flight and that helps them to overbook the flight too. If the hand baggage is overweight, you have to send them to pay for extra weight. So, it seems like it is helpful, but it is not. It takes too much time to resolve problems like this at the gate.
ReplyDeleteExactly, online check in is there to help airline reduce cost, that's all.
DeleteQuestion was what is purpose of check in (any kind), not comparison online vs. counter.
DeletePretty stupid question, most airlines don't ask you for passport information during the purchasing phase while they do during check-in.
DeleteThere are no stupid questions, just stupid answers :)
Delete:)))
DeleteDoes JU still charge 30€ for online check in at the airport?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2017/04/air-serbia-introduces-belgrade-check-in.html
There is automated check in at Belgrade now and it's free of charge. But I guess they still charge at airports other than BEG.
DeleteAs far as I can see, they do not charge on other airports:
Deletehttps://www.airserbia.com/en-RS/check-in#link3
BTW, if someone from AirSerbia reads this, they should probably make difference between airport check-in at counter (might be subject of payment) vs. check-in kiosk (always free).
BTW2, I've just noticed, they added several new languages at web, good move.