EmailKid

You are correct, you are NOT checked in.

Yup, exactly how I feel. I'm about ZERO out of eight flights, and I don't even bother with flights back to US

EmailKid

thomwithanh

This has never made sense to me. Why not do what LH and AC do? Let you check in online but then clearly note on your boarding pass (something to the effect of) "INTERNATIONAL: DOCUMENT VERIFICATION REQUIRED." TA scans your passport and stamps your OLCI BP if you're checking bags, or you can do it at the gate if you only have carry-ons.

That said, the one upside of going through OLCI was being able to move into the exit row on my UAX flight to IAD.

WhereHeadingNext

I have always assumed so till I was able to get BP from OLCI for PEK-IAD last August and PVG-EWR this January. I was actually surprised when the BP appeared.

FYI, I used a Chinese passport with a US visa.

villox

I'm not traveling internationally tomorrow, but I got this email from United about "saving time" at ORD by using OLCI, in order to avoid the spring break crowds.

The last line of the email states the following:

If you have an international itinerary and do not already have a current passport on file, you can still check in online and may just need to scan your passport at the airport.

As we know, this is simply not true!!! I'd hate to be the poor soul who tries to show up less than an hour before their flight thinking they're already checked in and all they have to do is scan their passport, based on this email.

lindaiah

I did OLCI for my IAH-LHR flight last month and was able to print my boarding pass, no problem. Before that my last international flight was in September of last year. No problem with OLCI then, either. I can't remember the last time I saw the "this is not a boarding pass" message.
I do have GE, if that makes a difference...

mduell

Two failures today - myself and a coworker going to EZE tomorrow. Both have traveled on the same passport with UA repeatedly in the past.

To add insult to injury, 20 minutes after we attempted checkin we got an email from UA telling us to checkin online. Incompetent .......s!

DeErEtYn

I just booked a flight DTW-EWR;JFK-NRT (operated by ANA)
20h layover in EWR/JFK. Issued on 016 ticket stock with UA codeshare number.
Can I do OLCI for the DTW-EWR part of the international ticket?

The reason I am asking is that I am arriving in DTW on a separate ticket (from EWR), and I won't have time in DTW to check-in. EWR-DTW and DTW-EWR is the same flight number, so I'm not worried about missing my flight from DTW, even with a 30 min "conneection".

I am worried about not being able to check-in for DTW-EWR though...

mathgeek1978

Why is this not true? You go to a kiosk, scan the passport (sometimes you might need an agent to verify it if you are traveling to a country that requires a visa), then the machine spits out the boarding pass. Can't take more than 3 - 5 minutes. Used to do that all the time.

Recently I have been traveling internationally every few months, and OLCI worked every time.

goalie

(request to the Moderators: if there is not an actual thread discussing my questions [and apologies if there is but I searched and couldn't find it], could you please leave this as a stand along thread instead of moving it to the "this is not a boarding pass thread? Thank you )
----
I found out yesterday that goalie-sis is flying EWR-NRT (UA79 (tomorrow (March, 24) so being the good brother*, I sponsored her using one of my GPU's which of course waitlisted being so close to the departure date.

She has no status but if I understand the process correctly, for waitlist purposes she carries my status until something like 4 hours before flight time so between that and being on a full-Y fare, she should be somewhere near the top of the list (y/n?) but what happens at the gate?

When she went to OLCI today, she rec'd the "This is not a boarding pass" screen and I told her it's because she needs to have her passport scanned/reviewed by an actual agent or a chicken and she's ok with that but.....

Is she checked in for "time of check-in tie-breaker purposes" or does she have to actually have an agent finish the process before being checked in? And if not checked in, where she lives literally 5 minutes from DCA (her outbound airport as she's flying DCA-EWR-NRT), can she see an agent today to complete the check-in process or does she have to wait until tomorrow? I know a chicken won't do it but wondering about an actual agent.

The reason I ask about her check-in being completed/not completed is when looking at the waitlist via UA's flight status, I see a waitlist short-name (XXX/Y) abbreviation which is her "short-name" however I don't think it's her as there is another pax on the waitlist who has the same last name abbreviated (XXX/Z) and both of these pax are also listed as stby's so methinks that they are perhaps non-revs who are a couple. (and if "anyone in the know" could help me with this, please pm me and I'll give you my sisters information )

Thoughts and thanks


*seeing that she's a now lack belt and you know what older brothers did to younger sisters growing up, I really need to be the good brother as I don't like "paybacks"

WineCountryUA

not sure I see a need for another "this is not a BP" thread. As all of this is discussed (regularly) in that master thread -- yes you will not get on the waitlist until checkin is completed and yes you can go in earlier (within 24 hour window) and do it

PHLGovFlyer

Somewhat relevant tale here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19780607-post9.html

Summary is to not trust much of what the UA agents tell you about being waitlisted when checking in early for an international flight.

villox

Check-in time for int'l flights is 1 hour prior. If you were to try scanning your passport 59 minutes before you would find that you were not actually checked in yet. That's what this whole thread is about.

In point of fact I'm not really sure why they ask you to "check in" online at all if your passport is not on file. It doesn't seem to change anything when you do this.

SOORBraves

I've flown to and from Hong Kong multiple times and most recently in January every time I've tried to do OLCI I get the This is not a boarding pass screen.

*Note when checking in for my 3/26 flight out of HKG I was able to get print a boarding pass

Darlox

Not sure if something new is happening, or I've suddenly joined the rest of the crowd in this thread! I've never had a problem with Int'l check-in online until today.

I travel Int'l about once a month, and tried to check-in online for a trip tomorrow. Unusually, per others' description, check-in asked me for my passport information all over again today, even though my (correct) passport information is still properly showing up in my profile, under "Passports".

Even after I re-entered the same information, I got the message that I cannot print boarding passes online, as my ID requires verification at the airport.


I've flown Int'l a couple of times since the MileagePlus Account Name debacle, so it's probably not DIRECTLY related? Are they making changes again, or what might have occurred to suddenly dump me into the unlucky-bucket??

mathgeek1978

One possibility: If you are traveling to a country that requires a visa, then the agent at the airport will need to physically verify your visa.