In message , at 00:51:10 on Sun, 22 Feb
2009, Joe remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
Easyjet seem to allow you to check in as soon as you book, but
BMI-Baby only 48hrs in advance (until recently it was just 24hrs).
The latter is extremely impractical if you are doing a return trip.

Is the purpose of checking in to actually check that you are present
though? How will this work with things like double booking which some
airlines seem to do?

It's my impression that the low-cost airlines don't double-book, because
it removes a major hassle-factor and they aim to get 80% seat occupancy
by price alone.

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/about...st&sec=traffic

Interestingly, when I saw the headline I assumed they were moving
towards the self-service machine model such as that in Terminal 5
(Heathrow).

That's a different exercise, and one where BA is not alone; KLM insist
on it at many airports, and Emirates new Terminal at Dubai is Kiosk-only
(interestingly, if they can't read your passport, and mine seems
especially reflective, they send you to "check in" at the bag drop!)
Easyjet have several locations where they strongly encourage kiosk use
(eg Geneva). BMI has kiosk check-in plus bag drop at LHR T1, but
strangely only do manual check-in at their "home" airport in the East
Midlands.

--
Roland Perry