US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Checked in Online -- No BP Receipt

Took a flight PBI-DCA on Sunday -- checking in online the night before and printed out my boarding pass. First time doing the internet check-in so wasn't sure what to expect -- what I wasn't ready for was the gate agent took the boarding pass without returning the receipt portion or anything. I didn't know my seat number so had to go back up the jetway to check the paper.

Is this usual? I just figured they'd rip the paper or scan the page or something, but I'd still have a bp to keep.

I've had it go both ways. Sometimes the agent will rip it and hand you half the document back. At other times, the agent will take the entire paper and say, "you are in seat 2A".

In rare cases where I don't get DM credit for a flight, I'll hold onto the bp but otherwise I'm just as happy to have someone else throw it out for me.

It's probably easiest just to print out two copies of your boarding pass, in case the gate agent decides to keep the whole thing. You'll have a piece of evidence if you end up not getting mileage credit for the flight.

I wouldn't have minded if he had mentioned the row/seat number when he told me there was no receipt. I didn't even realize I needed the row number (I knew it was D) from that paper until I was halfway down the jetway, it just seemed strange.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by A320 EOW:
It's probably easiest just to print out two copies of your boarding pass, in case the gate agent decides to keep the whole thing. You'll have a piece of evidence if you end up not getting mileage credit for the flight.</font>

Good advice. That's certainly what I do...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by A320 EOW:
It's probably easiest just to print out two copies of your boarding pass, in case the gate agent decides to keep the whole thing. You'll have a piece of evidence if you end up not getting mileage credit for the flight.</font>


BINGO!!! No more calls, we have a winner!

Perfect solution.

I am also a fan of the "print two" routine.

I cannot fathom why US (a sabre user) has not deployed gate readers yet. AA has them (also sabre) and they read traditional BPs, barcoded web-BPs, barcoded kiosk BPs, and even AAdvantage cards (when telephone check-in still worked--you need a BP to get thru security now, obviously).

Such a cutting edge piece of technology that most of the other majors already have would save TONS of time during the boarding process, as well as making the GAs much more efficient. I think they only exist in the US system at TPA or possibly MCO.

------------------
Saving the world, one clue at a time.

I agree ClueXFour....I can't imagine why they don't have BP readers at least at the hubs and large stations.

As for the online check-in another option is printing the itinerary receipt that comes up after you print the initial BP.

Even better than printing two is saving a copy of the BP images on your computer (I use PDF but whatever works for you...). For me, this is one of the major advantages of web checkin. Since I often credit US flights to UA miles (which hasn't gone very smoothly at all), I no longer have to keep track of 4 or 8 little stubs until my miles post. If there's a problem, I just whip out my saved file and print them again. Much easier.

Michael

I like the print two option since I never remember seat assignments from flight to flight and would want to have the paper with me. I think I've seen UA scan and return the entire page to the passenger, but I haven't tried it there so will have to check next time I fly.