Ryanair to abolish check-in desks

On 22 Feb, 17:04, Roland Perry wrote:

That depends - they don't scan them everywhere (eg not at Geneva or
Schiphol) until the gate.

Yes, but they're foreigners, and what do foreigners know about
security, eh?

Ian

On 22 Feb, 23:10, "Steve Rainbird"
wrote:

I check-in online because i like to choose my seat but obviously that's not
possible with Ryanair anyway.

I suspect that the Ryanir check-in clerk's screen displays how much
you've paid, thereby allowing them to gauge just how unpleasant to be.
My "Glasgow" Prestwick to "Frankfurt" Hahn flight cost two quid
return, plus ten quid credit card fee, so I'm checking in online ... I
don;t think I could handle the level of unpleasantness which that fare
will get me. Unfortunately, there is no real alternative: for once
Ryanair is the best route for me, as I'm starting nearer Prestwick
than any other airport and going to somewhere nearer Hahn than any
other airport. Damn.

Ian

In message , at 23:10:00 on Sun, 22
Feb 2009, Steve Rainbird
remarked:
What is the difference between check-in and bag-drop?

Check-in is where your ticket is turned into a boarding pass, and
baggage tags are issued.

Bag-drop is where you hand your tagged bags over to the airline.
Typically just a conveyor belt, or even a pile on the floor.

Most airlines run a scheme where the two take place simultaneously
(unless you have over-size bags, the belts are broken etc, when you
might still have to take your bag to a drop).

There is a modern trend towards a check-in kiosk, followed by a separate
bag drop; but those bag drops usually double up as "check-in for
difficult passengers" who were either failed or barred from online/kiosk
check-in. Indeed, these bag drops will typically use the desks with
conveyor at the side, previously called check-in.

I check-in online because i like to choose my seat but obviously that's
not possible with Ryanair anyway.

And many airlines allow you to choose a seat at the check-in desk or
kiosk.
--
Roland Perry

On 22 Feb, 20:08, Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at
10:22:52 on Sun, 22 Feb 2009, Paul Weaver
remarked:

weapon checks tend to be stable-door related. After-all,
glass shards from a duty free bottle can be pretty effective weapons.

I was talking to someone last week who was allowed to board with a can
of fruit (pineapple chunks) - which you might have expected to fail on
at least two counts: Being full of liquid, and also the peel-off top is
quite sharp and could be used as a weapon. Failing that, a bump on the
head from a well aimed one could also be quite nasty (see Crocodile
Dundee in New York).

That's not a knife!

On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:15:52 -0800 (PST), The Real Doctor
wrote:

I suspect that the Ryanir check-in clerk's screen displays how much
you've paid, thereby allowing them to gauge just how unpleasant to be.

The Ryanair check-in process is a paper-based one, certainly at
Stansted, presumably to avoid paying for the use of the computers.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:15:15 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

Bag-drop is where you hand your tagged bags over to the airline.
Typically just a conveyor belt, or even a pile on the floor.

Not where I've seen it. On KLM it's just another check-in desk at
which they often rip up your boarding pass and issue a new one (at BHX
they just send you to the business class one). On BA at Gatwick it
was again a set of "normal" desks, though they unlike KLM didn't
replace the boarding pass.

Will be interesting to see how Ryanair issue the baggage tags, as they
(unlike boarding cards) are not something that would be easy to do
print at home for, as they'd be too flimsy.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

In message , at 09:12:57 on Mon,
23 Feb 2009, Neil Williams remarked:
I suspect that the Ryanir check-in clerk's screen displays how much
you've paid, thereby allowing them to gauge just how unpleasant to be.

The Ryanair check-in process is a paper-based one, certainly at
Stansted, presumably to avoid paying for the use of the computers.

The printout they are "ticking off" could still include some indication
of how much the traveller had paid - at the very least it has to note
the payment of a check-in, and often a hold-baggage, fee.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 09:16:10 on Mon,
23 Feb 2009, Neil Williams remarked:
On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:15:15 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

Bag-drop is where you hand your tagged bags over to the airline.
Typically just a conveyor belt, or even a pile on the floor.

Not where I've seen it.

You need to get out more

eg: At LAX, the bag-drop is a pile on the floor, that a TSA chap then
feeds into a big x-ray machine. At Gatwick, the BA "large/fragile"
bag-drop was just a conveyer belt (when I last used it, after checking
in at a conventional desk).

On KLM it's just another check-in desk at which they often rip up your
boarding pass and issue a new one (at BHX they just send you to the
business class one). On BA at Gatwick it was again a set of "normal"
desks, though they unlike KLM didn't replace the boarding pass.

That's why I went on to say:

"There is a modern trend towards a check-in kiosk, followed by a
separate bag drop; but those bag drops usually double up as
"check-in for difficult passengers" who were either failed or
barred from online/kiosk check-in. Indeed, these bag drops will
typically use the desks with conveyor at the side, previously
called check-in."

Will be interesting to see how Ryanair issue the baggage tags, as they
(unlike boarding cards) are not something that would be easy to do
print at home for, as they'd be too flimsy.

They said: "passengers will be able to leave their luggage at a bag drop
but otherwise everything will be done online."

I don't think the "everything" includes printing the baggage tag, nor do
I think it is it very likely to include checking the visa status of
Outer Mongolian passport holders...
--
Roland Perry

* Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 15:17:56 on
Sun, 22 Feb 2009, Stevie Plunder
remarked:
Interesting you should ask that, as I was about to remark that the
current rules disallow online check-in for people without EU [1]
passports.

This is true but currently this is enforced via a check-box on the web
form which someone might accidentally or deliberately check.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "enforced", or what you are getting
at with accidental vs deliberate. I'm pretty sure that if you arrived at
the gate and they saw your Outer Mongolian passport for the first time,
you would not be getting on the plane.

What I was getting at is that they duty of making sure that you are
eligible to travel is delegated to the passenger. It's possible for
someone to check-in accidentally and this will not be noticed until the
gate in the case of an invalid passport but may not go noticed at all in
the case of an invalid/no visa.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:56:04 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

eg: At LAX, the bag-drop is a pile on the floor, that a TSA chap then
feeds into a big x-ray machine. At Gatwick, the BA "large/fragile"
bag-drop was just a conveyer belt (when I last used it, after checking
in at a conventional desk).

The large bags thing is literally a drop-off, but the bags must
already be tagged. At BHX T2 you had to wait while it was scanned and
answer silly questions about items in it, IMX.

I don't think the "everything" includes printing the baggage tag, nor do
I think it is it very likely to include checking the visa status of
Outer Mongolian passport holders...

Might it actually be better for FR if they restrict their services to
EU passport holders only? Would they be able to do that?

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.