What is the purpose of check-in before flying? (2014)

> Thieves used to break into (relatively unsecured) travel agencies, steal the blank paper tickets, and resell them at astronomical markup, with the agency "on the hook" for paying the maximum value of the tickets stolen.

As I recall, the room security for the ticket printer was a requirement of our sponsoring travel agency and our insurance company. I had to meet with a representative of our insurance company, a person from The Hartford who was dressed identically to an IBM salesperson of old, for them to inspect the arrangements. According to my boss, who was in the meetings to get set up, we were just barely a big enough company that our owner (the company was private at the time) didn't have to sign a personal guarantee for something like $3 million worth of potential ticket losses.

Of course, us eggheads in the IT department didn't fully know any of this until the stupid printer blew up.

Oh and thank you for the links. I did kind of wonder where those incredibly cheap but shady looking travel deals in the classifieds came from...

What is the precheck card?

From my anecdotal experience, your boarding pass may have TSA precheck mark. This has been sufficient for me to go into the TSA precheck line (vs regular default line).

Also, I usually see a person at the precheck line entrance screening people for boarding passes with the precheck mark. Otherwise they will direct you to the regular line.

What is most ridiculous about all the rules of security theater is that its toothless. I have seen multiple people jump the security line, just walk up around it and throw their stuff on the conveyer ahead of people, then they walk immediately into the scanner cutting off whoever was about to get in next. Some people in line say something out loud but most people just stand there stunned. TSA agents didn't even flinch. I think they are trained not to confront people who line jump, and the line jumpers are taking advantage of that big time, at least at the big busy airports.

If the ticket doesn’t have the pre check number on it, it’s guaranteed you’re going through security.

I think just having PreCheck doesn’t guarantee you get PreCheck but I’m pretty sure you do always get PreCheck if you have Global Entry.

This is exactly why overbooking exists. Airlines expect that a certain percentage of their passengers won't make the flight, for whatever reason, so they sell a few extra tickets so the seats won't be empty.

Personal counteranecdote: This depends on how it's booked. A so-called "hacker fare" from Kayak or Orbitz or Expedia or someone last year that involved two different underlying carrier bookings had a 45 minute connection between them. The covid paperwork check line took 90 minutes due to long lines and low staffing in the transfer airport.

The carrier for the second constituent booking said FOAD when asked about a rebooking after the flight had left. The reseller (I forget if it was Kayak or Orbitz or Expedia) refused a refund. We ended up having to book a replacement ticket for over $1000, and an overnight hotel stay.

American Express eventually sided with the merchant when I tried to do a chargeback for being sold an impossible itinerary. It made the trip substantially more expensive and +28 hours.

I'm not sure who should be liable for this, but I'm pretty sure it's not me. Every other party in the transaction chain passed the buck and I was the one who had to pay.

Missing your flight is one of those things where while it's a rare event for you it's a common event for the airline. For them people missing their flight for a lame reason is just noise compared to people missing flights for other reasons.

Think about it. A flight to Atlanta is delayed due to weather or a mechanical issue? That's 100 people that just missed their connection. Vs random people missing flights is very predictable.

I missed a flight in Oslo two years ago and the counter agent looked at me like I was insane to suggest that they airline would rebook me. In Norway it was clear that the $800 ticket was completely wasted if I got delayed on the way to the airport.

Yes, in my experience tickets are often not refundable but they do have value that can be applied to another flight if for whatever reason you become unable to use the ticket on the flight originally booked.

>I saw a video recently of a person who was denied boarding due to being visibly intoxicated. The process started with the gate agent offering to book them on another flight, and devolved into the person being banned from the airline. But they still received a full refund for their unused ticket.

More that a decade ago I was doing standards work in Amsterdam, after a long weekend of sitting in a conference room with 12+ people going over excel spreadsheets to edit a bunch of recurring text all over the place that was then used to generate the documentation / schema for the standards under discussion we were to catch a flight back to Copenhagen.

My coworker and I went to get a late lunch before heading back, I don't drink but he did so he took a big Heineken. Then we went to the airport. We checked in fine, and then we went to wait for the flight in the boarding area.

While waiting my coworker went to the bathroom. I decided what I really needed to do was some stretches because of how excruciatingly cramped up my muscles were from sitting for a whole weekend.

At the time I was in exceptionally good shape as I did Capoeira 3-5 times a week 3-4 hours a training, yoga classes, and weight training. So of course I was doing all sorts of funny stuff like balancing with one leg and the foot of the other held in my hand for several minutes, and going in a bridge pose, doing pushups, jumping jacks, standing on my hands, doing handstands and other stuff like that. My coworker was a long time in the bathroom, maybe there was a line.

While I was exercising one of the attendants from the flight we were supposed to get on came out and told me I would not be allowed to fly because I was obviously intoxicated.

Now I towered over the guy, I was in a bad mood from the weekend already, and frankly, he was just the most alcoholic looking Dane you could imagine, with a comical little pug nose red and purplish like the cartoon vision of a town drunk from the 1940s. So I nearly lost my temper at him, and was near to getting stranded in Amsterdam because of how irritated I was by the ludicrous assertion that anyone doing the things I was doing could possibly be drunk!

Just then my coworker came out and saved me, when he was told I was being accused of being drunk he started laughing because of course in Denmark a person who doesn't drink is already sort of funny.

So after some convincing I was let on to the plane. Later, after we lifted off, the little dipsomaniac steward came to apologize to me and as a way of making up for it said my coworker and I could have free drinks! He suggested a nice beer, or some wine, or some champagne. Anything I wanted! I said - I will have a Coke thank you. (but I was not able to do it without sounding annoyed)

My coworker took a red wine. He had laughing bouts several times on the flight back.

Sitcoms aren't set in reality in general though. People who are unemployed actors live in $1M apartments in Manhattan, for example.

I've missed maybe five or so domestic flights on "legacy" US airlines (American/Delta/United). If I recall correctly, on all but one of those I was rebooked. On the remaining one I was not rebooked; the airline tried to accommodate me but they couldn't get me where I was going in time for the thing I was going to.

That being said, I do care if I miss my flight, because it's obviously a pain even if you do get rebooked!

Having flow a lot after living in different countries, the US major airlines used to be pretty flexible compared to others. I can recall landing at a connecting airport, strolling up to a gate for an earlier flight and asking if I could switch and after checking it was usually “sure”. Missed flights rebooked, etc.

I recall connecting in Vancouver with Air Canada and asking the same and the answer was “thatll be $130 to change your ticket”. This is with a half empty flight leaving in 30 min.

I know United started charging some fee for last minute flight changes, but it’s way better than other airlines.

Being 2.08m tall (6’10) I _have_ to always pay extra because I don’t fit in a regular seat. Many years ago at check in I would automatically be put on the exit row but nowadays that doesn’t happen anymore. So now I need to book very early because otherwise the exit row seats are all gone.

I paid for the "upgrade" behind the empty exit row on a transatlantic flight once and it was kind of the worst flight I ever had. Usually only my legs hurt from being cramped in but on that flight we were somehow sitting directly in the vent of the A/C - it was the first time I needed a blanket and had a sore throat after just a few hours in the plane. Getting up and moving 3m to the left it was completely fine, so surely not just coincidentally getting a cold... And the entertainment/cupholder foldout thingy also was really flimsy and weird.

Yes! I ran into that with a coach bus one time (trip from some big Boston transit hub to NYC). I wanted to get on the bus but they told me I had to check in at some gate first, and I was like, “what? We have to do this like an airport?”

And I didn’t have to do that for the first leg (from NYC Chinatown).

covid ruined this in a lot of places. They’d verify your vaccination/negative test status at check-in.

Some airlines would let you upload everything in advance, but many preferred to have things checked by the local check-In agents.

So, the answer is: "it's complicated"

You can get a cheaper ticket with an agent than with an airline but this would be a ticket attached to certain conditions (for example, it can only be sold together with a hotel room)

Another possibility is that you do a search and find it per X and then go to an agent and they find it cheaper but because they know how to look around your dates and possibilities you might not know (connection alternatives, etc).

But to be fair, even if it's a little more expensive I prefer the peace of mind of dealing with one vendor instead of two vendors if anything happens.