A friend of mine recently was going to throw away the return portion of a nonrefundable ticket, but since he ended up at the airport that day anyway (for a different flight on a different airline) he went ahead and checked in for this one (he's not saying which airline or where).

This made me wonder: What can happen when you check in for a flight but don't get on the plane? He had a good excuse ready, and of course he didn't check bags, but what would the airline do if they realized it? He's worried more about what they'd do to his miles, but I'm wondering what they'd do operationally: hold up the flight? Search for contraband? Any ideas? Does it matter whether it's a small aircraft (easier to notice one too few passengers?) or large (more likely to use a computerized boarding gate?). And I suppose it would be really dumb to try this on an international flight.

In fact, he reports, perhaps the airline knew he wasn't going to board the plane: he says it was the first time in several years that they failed to ask him the four silly security questions!


[This message has been edited by johna (edited 11-28-1999).]

That is a very serious thing. Whether or not your friend checked bags, they would have a cow, for obvious reasons.

I heard that on an EL AL flight last summer this happened, and they took all the bags off and all the passenger had to claim their own. I don't know what happened at the end, but I think the flight did take off.

Of course Tute, that's El Al, and that's international. From what I've seen domestically, it is another story completely- especially if the flight is running late.

But this also reminds me of the question someone asked me a while back about refunding a ticket after they'd checked in for their outbound but then did not end up taking the flight due to a delay like a ATC/mechanical or whatever. They were concerned about turning in the ticket for credit and I'g advised them that since there was no change fee etc since it wasn't discounted that they should be just fine. yet I don't know for sure.

Johna, by check-in, does that mean you gave your boarding pass to the gate agent?

I would only think you would you would have a concern if you gave your boarding pass to the agent and it was such a full flight that they had to do a head count.

I would then think that the airline would subject you to the terms of your FF agreement. Here is what Delta says:
http://www.delta-air.com/skymile/guide/index.html

On a trip this summer, I had the itinerary: LHR-EWR-SFO. I got off at EWR, never boarded my second flight, and ALL the miles have been posted.

I would not try this where you fail to take both flights, for example. Also, on domestic flights, collecting boarding cards does not translate directly into a check of the passenger list. Why? Just look at the procedures -- at 5 minutes before closing the door, they just count empty seats and let standbys on the plane. If they were really checking each passenger, they would know exactly how many seats are available.

My friend checked in at the front desk, but never went near the gate, so he didn't give the boarding pass to the gate agent. This was a return flight from elsewhere, not a connection (as Astro describes). And definitely, neither of us would even thinkabout doing it on an international flight, even "just" into Canada.

Johna: Don't sweat this one. It happens ALL the time. When I was rerouted from BWI departure to IAD departure, I was "checked-in" at BWI and given a boarding pass. But I missed my IAD flight.

And think about how many times you are "checked in with boarding pass" on a connection that you miss. Airlines deal with this thousands of times a day.

As Aubie suggests, this would only be a problem if your friend had given his boarding pass to the agent at the gate door and the physical count on the plane did not match the computer's count of boarding passes collected...

Well, I've now got "a situation" in which I'd checked in for a flight (incidentally with an eticket) quite early in the afternoon for a much later flight that I NEVER took FIVE months ago! No refund yet (from- you guessed it- NWA) and Amex (Platinum) is no help either!

I am double booked on two different airlines (BA & UA) right now, for SFO-LHR-SFO. I got the upgrades on BA (much easier because they use the A and D inventory), but I am on the waitlist for UA. I would like to take UA, because the ticket is half the price, however, I don't really want to take it if I am not upgraded.

So what happens if I check into the UA flight (no bags to check), and I don't get upgraded. Can I get a refund on the UA ticket (assuming it is a refundable ticket) even if I checked-in for the first segment of the ticket?

The BA flight leaves a little later, so I have time to catch the BA flight if UA doesn't work out.

As far as I know you should! No reason not to be able to do that! Is there?

Ever wonder why sometimes it seems to take forever before the airplane door closes and leaves the gate? One of the possible reasons might have been because they were looking for that one missing passenger that never intended to show up. This would cause a delay to the inconvenience of all the other passengers. On flights with meals, that meal reserved for the no-show passenger would have gone to waste. As to double booking on different airlines, to compensate for passengers that make bookings and not show up for flights, airlines overbook to minimize empty seats.

I talked to someone who works for BA and they said the most difficult market to predict is the JFK==>LHR run. BA has a flight leaving on the hour, every hour between 5pm until 10:00pm. Most people flying business/first double/tripple book becuase they are unsure what time they will make it to the airport. The end result is some flights leave very empty and others way over sold. It is a very difficult market for them becuase of all of the duplicate bookings.

From my perspective which is viewed from the crew's side, a number of options are explored if a traveller has checked in but not shown up at the gate. Immediate check is made of the PNR file to see if they were intransit from another flight. If the flight is on the ground then most airlines will wait an extra five minutes for the poor victims to make the dash (providing there is more than one person involved; more consideration is also given for the last scheduled flight of the day). If a precleared customs checkpoint is involved they will contact those officals to determine if there is a hold up. If no clear explanation can be found then the passenger is deleted from the computer system and their seat is made available for a standby. If checked luggage is involved then the flight could experience a delay while it is being pulled. Without checked luggage, the only concern is that the head count on baord matches the number of boarding coupons pulled at the gate. Domestically a variance is allowed (up to 3 for my airline) but on international and transborder flights the counts have to match exactly. With no checked bags a flight is not held to look for one lost soul. Airlines know what the bad habits are of the FF . Policy can certainly vary per airline but the general response should be similar in the industry. Commenting on flight credits though is out of my league.

I should have added that if I decide not to take the UA flight (because I don't get the upgrade), I would tell UA before the plane takes off that I am not going. I'm not planning to check any bags because I know that is a pain to get back. All I wanted to know is whether I could get the refund on the ticket.

I have done exactly the same thing as johna's "friend" (checked in and not take the flight) and miles for the flight were never posted. On the other hand, I have done the same thing as astro (not used a continuing leg) and have had the miles posted to my account. In neither instance did I hear anything from the airline about not having boarded.