Jeff Rowland

Wanted to see if anyone has used the auto airline checking service at:
www.airlinecheckins.com. that is noted as a Germany-based Lufthansa Innovation Hub has built AirlineCheckins, a consumer-facing service so that users can check-in online at over 100 airlines

Efrem

Never used it, but I don't see the value. On any given day I'm checking in at one airline, not 100, and I know which airline it is. Why not just check in there, and avoid another possible source of problems?

LondonElite

I don't get this service at all. They ask you to create an email on their domain so that they get a copy of your reservation in order to check you in (and data mine a whole bunch of other stuff). Why? Would you not prefer to be in control of that yourself? Is this a bad solution to a non-existent problem or am I missing something?

tomvancouver

I'll be in the air at T-24hr and for AC the upgrade priority if not cleared before then is based on status, then OLCI time.
So the service sounds useful

However if the actual check in time is 10-30 minutes late then I'd be better off asking my SO to do it for me.

erik123

It's useful if your flight is at 1:30am (e.g. common if travelling from India) ro if you are in a timezone where you are not awake 24 hours before your next flight.

CDKing

Its shameless self promotion. No way anyone would take that response so personally if they weren't involved in the company.

Do you get a fast pass through security by checking in prior to the airport?

WorldLux

I don't trust third party services regarding these procedures. Something goes wrong and I'll be the one being bogged down by that cock up. You wouldn't be the first that had issues with visa service providers, etc...

Moreover, I have doubts about confidential information being unnecessarily spread to a third party. In the case of reservation information, there's an awful lot of things you can do with a last name and a booking reference...

That's what family and very close friends are good for. I very often find myself in the position, where I check in F&F if a) the check-in time is in the middle of the night (doesn't happen very often) or b) if that friend or family member has no internet connection. In that case I'll send them the electronic BP and that's the end of it.

spdickey

he advantage is that you’re likely to get a better seat if you’ve reserved one you don’t want, or if you don’t have one reserved. It also bypasses the burden of needing to manually input information—like passport info and birthdays—multiple times.

The disadvantage is that you’re giving your personal information to another website and letting an automated service choose your seat. And once a seat is chosen, it usually can’t be changed until you get to the airport.

cbellero

I have just received a notice that they now offer any upgraded bundled service which includes unlimited wifi on 36 airlines and worldwide hotspot access, unlimited check ins and discounted lounge access. Costs 10 EUR per month.

The wifi is the only thing that could potentially sell me on the service. However, many airlines have different tiers of speeds. I would not want unlimited data on the lower speeds. The list of airlines includes a lot of big players (American, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Etihad, ANA, China Airlines, Singapore, Virgin Atlantic, amongst others).

However, I will give this a pass without further details, which do not seem to be available within the app.

LondonElite

Feels like a final desperate attempt...

AMflier

There's been talk about it's use on the Southwest Forum. It looks like it can check you in for flights on WN which is a valuable service.

Athena53

<Deleted by moderator>

My interpretation of his response is "Why do I need a third-party app to check in with my airline when I already have a process to check in with my airline?" Which is similar to others' answers. I agree, and share the concerns already expressed that it's just another entity wanting to mine your data and "serve" ads to you, and that checking in via a third party adds another layer where something can go wrong.

smc333

No contact info on the website and the domain is registered through a proxy. So they won't tell me anything about themselves but want me to give them personal information?

No thanks.

LondonElite

It's complete BS. Neither necessary nor helpful, though I'd imagine that there are enough dummies who pay the €120 per annum they want. I had a guy that went to my business school wanting me to subscribe to a similar app that he and some friends had built. They wanted honest feedback so I told them it was complete garbage that any reasonably frequent traveller could get better from their own airline. No problem but a solution...

sbm12

Sounds like the iPass offering that was so popular a year ago then dried up in a hurry as the pricing proved to not be sustainable. That said, if you can just use it for the wifi and on a month-to-month basis without using the other features then it seems like a good price for that option.