Be at gate and ready to board 45 minutes before international flight?
 

I was just checking the check in time requirements for various ariports on delta.dumb and noticed something that's news to me:

You are required to be at the gate and ready to board 45 minutes before scheduled departure time for international flights. [not an exact quote]

NOTE: This is for originating passengers, but if passengers are being offloaded, will the GA check whether someone is connecting or not?

Is this new? It was always 30 minutes AFAIK.

I also noticed that the information about check in and bag drop deadlines for someone taking a domestic flight that connects to international *seems to suggest* (but this isn't clear) that the deadline is one hour, just like if the first flight were an international segment. In fact, one interpretation of the 45 minute rule is that it would also apply to a domestic to international connection, but I can't believe that this is really what DL means.

Comments from the experts please?

This language was there in March 2015:
Seems to be the same as what is there now.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150304...uirements.html

Interesting. I always assumed it was 30 minutes. Moreover, the MSP F/G SC rarely calls international flights much (if any) before the 45 minutes mark, although I've always understood that with OLCI, one needed to show the passport to a DL agent no later than one hour before the flight when the first segment is international.

I thought they don't even start to board international wide-bodies until T-45 or -50. Interesting since I have a 40 min connection to intl in a month, so I'd likely be at the gate T-30 while they are boarding other zones.

Yes, they generally don't start boarding until T-45 or T-50 (depending on aircraft capacity). It's one of those requirements that's never actually enforced. You'll be fine with showing up at T-30. I suspect the policy may date back to the times when people would check-in at the gate. Obviously no longer a requirement these days.


https://web.archive.org/web/20001204...k_in/index.jsp

Any time I've flown PIT --> CDG, I was told that check-in and bag cutoff was T-60 mins.

Any time I've flown PIT --> XXX --> CDG, I was told that check-in and bag cutoff was T-30 mins.

I don't think that helps you much.

:)

That's consistent with what MSP seems to do, but I'm concerned that another airport could enforce the rules differently, especially if the first flight is oversold.

I am not familiar with that one-hour limitation. Recently Delta has finally sorted it out where they can save your passport to your profile so you don't have to show a passport to anyone at all until boarding*, but even before that was the case, when OLCI'ing for an international flight I would sometimes only show my passport to an agent at the gate shortly before boarding and never had any issues.

*If anyone else has had trouble getting your passport to stick in your profile, as I did for a while: the next time you have an international flight, make a point to check in at a kiosk. The kiosks seem to be uniquely able to save your passport to your Delta profile so that after that you can OLCI for international flights without needing any further document checks.

The one hour travel documents check requirement often appears when you do OLCI, especially if a visa may be required.

Now that is interesting. I just had occasion to enter a new passport number and it sticks but there is a warning note the the PP is not "verified." I wonder if "verifying" means it needs to be scanned at a kiosk as opposed to handed over in person when checking in. I will get the chance soon to see if I can OLCI online, at a kiosk, or need to see an agent.

I believe verified means it gets checked against that one itinerary by a check-in, gate, or club agent. But if you check in on the kiosk, it will connect it to your Delta profile and future OLCIs for international trips will no longer need to be verified. (Critically -- and a little stupidly -- the manual agent verification only verifies your passport for that one trip, it is not saved for future trips.)

My new passport came yesterday. I updated my profile on Delta.com today and Delta.com informed me that I will need to use the kiosk on my next flight to ensure it works properly in the future. Seems strange but whatever.

Are they taking a rollcall at the gate? Unless a person is called to the podium, how are they going to know?

I stick to being at the gate 20 min before any flight, domestic or international. I have yet to have my seat given away. (But most of my travel is domestic.)

Note that this is a deadline for the gate, not check-in

DL's deadline is T-45 for international. Yes, GA's can see who is connecting and who is originating.

The only reasons gate times matter are:

1. Flights to the US where security or secondary security is at the gate. Dependong on the station, late pax may not get processed. Some places just stick to the rules because it's easier.

2. At T-45, if the flight is overbooked and at risk of an oversale, the GA may offload no shows. Whether that matters now that DL is offering larger VDB's and thus has a reason to offload no shows won't be known for a while.

3. Early departures. Clearly not 45 minutes early, but once the 45-minute mark has passed and everybody at the gate has been boarded, the flight can close and push and you are SOL.