Annoying E-Check-in Bug
 

I'm sure I can't be the only person experiencing this...

If I try and check-in online right at the 24hr mark, I get 'locked out' of the system with a 'cannot find ETicket' error for at least 30-60 seconds. It seems like I need to wait for a magic moment about 15-25 seconds after the clock hits '24' before attempting a check-in to avoid this problem, but the time seems to vary.

I just tried online check-in a few moments after the clock hit the 24hr mark and I was locked out for almost a full minute before I could complete the process and ended up #4 on the list for a flight which might only see 1 or 2 FC seats open up at departure time.

Is there a back-end process which is running through all the records and marking them 'ok' for check-in as each flight reaches the 24 point?

You're not the only one to notice.

But I figure that others have the same problem. And those checked-in before you most likely do so because they're connecting from somewhere and have already checked-in hours ago. [At least that's what I tell myself.]

In this case it's the lunch-hour OAK-IAH flight, so it's highly unlikely there are any connecting passengers.

I'd like to see the bug fixed, or at least understand if there is a fixed time to wait once the 24 mark is reached before trying to check-in.

I've been noticing this one too, and believe me it matters trying to get an early sequence number for a Monday AM flight!

Paging Scott (COInsider) - is this a known (or perhaps unknown) bug that could be looked into and fixed?

Hi bocastephen, this issue came up a few times at the DO, and thanks to your example, we were finally able to determine what's causing this issue. This will be fixed in one of our next two releases. It may take us a few months, but relief is on the way.

Great news, thank you! In the meantime, is there anything we can do to mitigate the problem while we're waiting for a fix - e.g., waiting a predetermined amount of time after the 24hr mark before initiating the check-in process?

Thanks Scott. This has been happening for at least two years now.

Don't forget that your flight could have passengers connecting from earlier flights (for example, in your case, connecting from the Bahamas). In these instances, there would be elites checking in ahead of you, so they would presumably already be ahead of you on the list. This is a much worse situation for those of us who are originating out of a hub.

But I've had the problem too... I thought it was a slow internet connection or something. Glad to hear it's being fixed.

IME, yes. The delay is 60 seconds. Try to check in at T-23h59m30s: fail. Try to check in at T-23h57m59s: success.

I find the best way to get around this issue - is to go to view the reservation from the "Change/View Existing Reservation" pull down then check in once the yellow check in button appears. You will need to keep refreshing your screen until it appears.

The button appears before you can check in; it appears at the 24 hour mark. If you click it at that time you will get an error about no ticket existing (or something like that). You have to wait until 1 minute after the button first appears.

My experience has been that the button appears about 1-2 minutes after the 24 hour mark - and then I have always been able to check in. Although I have experienced "out of sync" crash if a check in upgrade occurred and have had to call co.com help to fix.

Maybe CO recently fixed that. Last time I tried it was still broken.

It's very frustrating if you don't know what's happening.