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Why would BP say "check-in at gate"?

 
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Old May 27, 2009, 9:48 am
  #1  
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Why would BP say "check-in at gate"?

Completely domestic flight on all CO metal. Did auto check-in for return. Both return legs were EUA'd at (I assume) T-24. When I went to board the 2nd leg of the return, the gate reader beeped to alert the GA like something was wrong. He pushed a few buttons on his keyboard, handed me back my BP and said "thanks, go ahead". I asked if everything was OK and he said "no problem". I didn't think to ask what happened as it caught me by surprise. Once I sat down on the plane, I looked at the BP and noticed that it said "Seat Assignment: 2F CHECK IN AT GATE".

Just curious if anyone knows why it would say this. There was no equipment change, nothing unusual, etc., so I have no idea why it would say this.
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Old May 27, 2009, 9:56 am
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I've never seen a seat assignment and Check in at the gate together. Strange. When it says Check in at the gate, that means that the flight is overbooked, you have no seat assignment and are on the oversale list. You need to check with the GA for seats (or volunteer for a possible bump).
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Old May 27, 2009, 10:25 am
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Were you going int'l? Maybe they put a flag in there for some int'l doc verification or something?
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Old May 27, 2009, 11:55 am
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Originally Posted by channa
Were you going int'l? Maybe they put a flag in there for some int'l doc verification or something?
Nope. Completely domestic. And to answer SFOGATE the flight wasn't oversold. Seat map shows about 9 open seats and the fare buckets were never zeroed out prior to the flight.
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Old May 27, 2009, 12:31 pm
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Could be one of those scenarios where you were EUA'd but no F seat could be assigned as it is held back for special assistance, etc., and to verify seat assignment at the gate?
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Old May 27, 2009, 1:02 pm
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Happened to me a month ago.
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Old May 27, 2009, 5:06 pm
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I've seen "Check in at the Gate" occasionally flying on the Colgan Saab's. Agent said it did that because of expected weight restrictions for that flight.
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Old May 28, 2009, 12:08 am
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Ground Turbulance

The surfing term for this would be 'random chop'.

What you experienced was 'ground turbulance'.
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Old May 28, 2009, 7:17 am
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Originally Posted by kingalien
Could be one of those scenarios where you were EUA'd but no F seat could be assigned as it is held back for special assistance, etc., and to verify seat assignment at the gate?
No, the seat was assigned during the EUA. It was also printed on the BP.
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Old May 28, 2009, 7:19 am
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Originally Posted by PorkRind
If it's because I wasn't "officially" checked in then CO's auto check in feature has a glitch because that's how I checked in.
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Old May 28, 2009, 6:31 pm
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Originally Posted by sfogate
I've never seen a seat assignment and Check in at the gate together. Strange. When it says Check in at the gate, that means that the flight is overbooked, you have no seat assignment and are on the oversale list. You need to check with the GA for seats (or volunteer for a possible bump).
This happened to me last week: I had a seat assignment and it said "check in at the gate."

When they scanned my BP at the gate, bells went off...and the GA said that all the fuss was because my record wasn't sync'ed. Not sure what that means, but after fumbling with my record for a while, they were able to re-sync it... and I was able to go ahead and board my flight in the seat assignment I selected (which was on my boarding pass.)
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Old May 28, 2009, 6:42 pm
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Originally Posted by Weatherboy
This happened to me last week: I had a seat assignment and it said "check in at the gate."

When they scanned my BP at the gate, bells went off...and the GA said that all the fuss was because my record wasn't sync'ed. Not sure what that means, but after fumbling with my record for a while, they were able to re-sync it... and I was able to go ahead and board my flight in the seat assignment I selected (which was on my boarding pass.)
E-tkts need to be in-sync. That means that you or someone made a change to your reservations after ticketing and CO needs to "officially" ok it; put it in-sync/re-sync it.

Sometimes this is a simple function and other times it's a major PITA. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with e-tkts.
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Old May 28, 2009, 6:50 pm
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Originally Posted by sfogate
E-tkts need to be in-sync. That means that you or someone made a change to your reservations after ticketing and CO needs to "officially" ok it; put it in-sync/re-sync it.

Sometimes this is a simple function and other times it's a major PITA. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with e-tkts.
I got " There is no flight coupon associated with this e-tkt"
That was not good at all.
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Old May 28, 2009, 7:09 pm
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Originally Posted by rolov
I got " There is no flight coupon associated with this e-tkt"
That was not good at all.
I think that means that the other airline has control of your ticket. We have to "pull" it over from them. Half the time you can't remember how to do it, need to look up the instructions and type away. PITA

I believe that CO has come up with a simple solution for this problem but I haven't studied the memo or attempted to use the new application. Anything would be faster than what we do now.

Last edited by sfogate; May 28, 2009 at 7:10 pm Reason: added a comment
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Old May 28, 2009, 7:40 pm
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Originally Posted by sfogate
E-tkts need to be in-sync. That means that you or someone made a change to your reservations after ticketing and CO needs to "officially" ok it; put it in-sync/re-sync it.

Sometimes this is a simple function and other times it's a major PITA. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with e-tkts.
Could a change be as simple as changing seat selection? That was the only change I made. Unless the EUA and/or the auto check in process somehow threw it out of sync.

Note to self: next time ask when it happens.
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