I would think the more passengers check in for a flight on line, the more accurate information revenue management gets in their models to maximize offering paid upgrades..... Also, in indicating how many bags each passenger will check could be fed into weight models... contributing to how much fuel to load, meals to load etc. Yet, United may think differently! [s].

OLCI Without Printing BPs?
 

Sorry I couldn't see this in the FAQs.

Often it's inconvenient to find a printer off-Airport, more than 2 hours ahead of flight time. Yet I want to check in online, to avoid having to get to the Chicken 45 minutes ahead of the flight (traffic delays, etc.) Can I simply do OLCI by "printing" to a Mac pdf file, then actually print the boarding passes at the airport say 35 minutes ahead, without losing my assigned seat?

Yes, I check-in online all the time without printing the passes. Just go to the chicken at the airport and tell it to reprint them.

Yes, you can check-in online and then print your boarding pass at a Easy Check-in Kiosk. That's what I always do.

Me too, no reason to waste my paper.

Careful - there's still a cut-off time after which the EasyChicken won't reprint your BP. Not sure what it is, but I know I've been refused before.

Just be careful. I've had Chickens tell me to cluck off and refuse to spit out a boarding pass when I try reprinting with <30 minutes until flight time.

here is some reading for you

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=661389

Man, there needs to be some more roosters at SEA because there are only two chickens that I can use to get my BP after using the OLCI from home...

But yes I do that all the time.

Did you have to pay a late fee for printing BP < 30 min. before departure?

Nope. Just ask an agent to do it.

yes and the advantage of doing this (even if you have printed your olci bp) is that this will be your first indication of any type of seat move, equipment swap, or irrops. the first thing i do when i get to the terminal is re-hatch my bp from the chicken for that very reason

That's why I go ahead and print the OLCI BP, so if I'm running late I can use those to run to the gate. But I always try to print the Chicken stock BP.

Incidentally, you don't need to actually print the BP. YOu just need to get to the page where .bomb shows your BP. Then you can close your browser, go to a different site, etc. If it makes you feel better to generate a pdf and click Continue, feel free. :)

I always OLCI, often without being able to print but don't expect it to save your butt if you're late. I've gotten the "need to see an agent" message from the LAX chickens EXACTLY at 30 min prior to departure when I did that on overbooked flights. Since the agent lines + security lines are likely to be at least 30 min long, good luck!