Online check-in is check-in made via the Internet. An alternative option is a check-in at the airport.
Attention! In the case of purchasing the tickets of popular airlines Ryanair, Wizz Air or easyJet, it's worth using online check-in because check-in at the airport is associated with additional fees.
What is check-in and why should it be made?
In order to take a seat on the plane, every passenger must have a boarding pass (the ticket alone does not entitle you to board the plane!) which is generated during check-in and handed over at the airline desk at the airport or made available for download or sent to the passenger's email. Sometimes, instead of boarding passes, airlines provide or send a check-in confirmation via email. In this case, remember to bring the confirmation with you to the airport, go to the airline desk and show it to the staff. Based on this, you will receive your boarding passes. The check-in confirmation alone, similarly to the ticket, does not entitle you to board the plane.
There are two ways to perform check-in:
- Online - using an online form, then you need to enter the required data, and after generating the boarding pass or check-in confirmation, print it out and take it with you to the airport (you can read about the details of online check-in later in this article)
- At the airport – at the check-in desk of an airline or at the self-service check-in desk (machine) – in this case, the boarding pass is printed by the airline employee or by the machine (you can find more information in the article about check-in at the airport).
Each passenger has one boarding pass filled with data, the scope of data is determined by the airline. In addition, the required data may vary depending on the route, which is related to the visa requirement set by the country of arrival. Usually during check-in you must give your name and type, number and series of the transport document (ID card, passport), as well as additional data, such as country and data on the issue and validity of the document. This is important because the compliance of the data on the boarding pass and documents are verified during the security check.
In the case of non-compliance of the mentioned data, the passenger won't be able to pass the security check. Additionally, during the check-in, seats on the plane are allocated – this information is included in the generated boarding pass.
Is it necessary to provide data during check-in? Yes, it's necessary. When making the reservation of the airline ticket, you have to provide names and surnames of the passengers, birth dates and contact details. The boarding pass includes more detailed information. This results from the applicable safety requirements.
In addition, in the time between the ticket purchase and the flight, the required data may change (for example, the validity of the passport may expire and a new document will be issued with a different series and number). This is why check-in is made just before the departure or in the case of online check-in, it's possible only a few days before the departure.
Attention! Each passenger should have his/her own boarding pass filled with the required data and an identity document confirming their compatibility with the actual situation.
What is the difference between a check-in confirmation and a boarding pass?
If the airline, after completing the online check-in, provides or sends you a check-in confirmation, go to the airport with the document received. At the line stand, show your confirmation and based on it the staff will print and hand over your boarding passes. The confirmation alone may not contain detailed information about the flight and your seats, in the form of a code to be scanned before boarding the plane.
How do I know if the airline sent me a confirmation or a boarding pass? The shared or sent boarding pass file contains the following text: „Boarding pass”, whereas the check-in confirmation file: „Check-in confirmation”/„This is not a boarding pass”.
When do airlines launch the online check-in?
The moment of launching and closing online check-in is determined separately by each airline. For example:
- easyJet enables online check-in from 30 days to 2 hours before departure,
- Ryanair enables check-in from 24 to 2 hours before departure (from 60 days before departure in the case of seat reservations),
- Wizz Air enables online check-in from 30 days (if a seat has been reserved) or from 24 hours (if a seat has not been reserved) up to 3 hours before scheduled departure.
Other airlines that provide online check-in:
- Air Baltic - from 5 days before departure to closing personal check-in at the airport.
- Alitalia (applies only to the Light tariff!) - from 24 to 2 hours before departure.
- Ukraine International Airlines - from 48 hours (except for flights from Amsterdam and on the route Kiev - Brussels and charter flights - from 24 hours, flights from Brussels, Geneva and Zurich - from 18 hours before departure) to 1 hour before departure (except for flights from Tel Aviv and Zaporozhye - then the check-in is closed 3 hours before departure). Online check-in on the route Kiev - Riga and Riga - Kiev is payable, for other routes its free. Passengers on all UIA flights, with the exception of intercontinental flights and flights from Klaipeda, are required to pay an additional fee for check-in at the airport!
- AirAsia (with exception of flights from or to United States) - from 14 days to 4 hours before departure (for AirAsia X) or up to 1 hour before departure (AirAsia).
- Spirit Airlines - from 24 hours to 1 hour before departure.
- Jet2.com - from 28 days to 5 hours before departure.
- El Al. - from 24 hours to 3 hours before departure.
In cases not mentioned above, check-in takes place in a standard way at the airport - after going to the check-in desk (no later than 2 hours before departure), passengers will receive boarding cards free of charge.
How does the online check-in process look like with eSky?
Attention! If your ticket says your booking is handled by an airline, or you need to perform check-in on the airline's website, go straight here.
When can eSky customers check-in? The passenger will receive an e-mail with a link to check-in with their electronic ticket. Thanks to this you can provide all the data necessary for checking in before the airline activates online check-in (usually 2-4 days before the departure time). Our consultants will finalize this process on behalf of the passenger who begun the checking process online or the whole process will be carried out automatically. Warning! Online Check-in may not be possible if you submit your data later than 48 hours prior to departure. We will send boarding passes or a check-in confirmation to the email address included in the booking no earlier than 48 hours and no later than 8 hours before the scheduled departure time.
If your trip consists of several flights, boarding passes or confirmation will be sent in separate emails - 48 to 8 hours before each flight.
Attention! The online check-in service via eSky is available for flights that are operated by some popular airlines. The service can be added to the shopping cart while making an airline ticket reservation.
How does online check-in with eSky look if the booking is handled by the airline?
If you have purchased the Online Check-in service while booking your flight tickets, the online check-in process for bookings operated by airlines is the same as described above. Once you've entered your details and the airline opens check-in, we'll run it on your behalf and send your boarding passes or a check-in confirmation to your email. Boarding passes or the check-in confirmation must be printed before heading to the airport. Attention! In this case, you can receive information about your booking directly from the airline to your email address. However, we recommend that you only follow the check-in messages sent by eSky.
If you don’t purchase the Online check-in service on eSky, you have to check-in directly through the airline. In order to do this, you have to go on the airline’s website, log in with the e-mail address provided when booking the ticket on eSky and complete the check-in form. Please remember that it will be possible after launching check-in by the airline (for Ryanair, it is possible from 24 to 2 hours before departure)! Boarding passes can be used in accordance with the instructions on the airline's website.
Please note that in this case you will only receive all flight information, as well as check-in and schedule changes, from the airline!
When will you receive your boarding passes from eSky?
- For bookings handled by eSky, we will email you the boarding pass or check-in confirmation between 48 and 8 hours before departure.
- If you have purchased the additional service Online Check-in by eSky, we will send you the boarding pass or check-in confirmation by email between 48 hours and 8 hours before departure.
- In the case of bookings handled by the airline, the boarding pass or check-in confirmation will be sent directly by the airline within the timeframe specified by the airline.
Remember that boarding passes or a check-in confirmation will only be sent if you provide all the details for online check-in required by the airline!
Should you print out your boarding pass?
Yes, due to airline requirements the generated boarding pass must be printed. The card can be printed immediately after receiving the e-mail or saved in the portable memory (pen drive, smartphone, portable disk, etc.) and printed at a later date, but necessary before the approach to check-in and passport control or security at the airport! The printed card should be taken with you at the airport with the identity document used for check-in. The lack of it results in the necessity of paying a high penalty fee and in extreme cases even refusing to board the plane.
I can't check-in. What to do?
- Check if a new flight schedule and a new check-in link have been sent to your e-mail address.
- If the booking concerns a larger group, you shouldn't check-in more than several passengers at the same time. If there are too many passengers, when entering data from documents, the duration of the session may end. It's related to the security of your data.
Change after check-in
After checking in online, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and easyJet allow you to change your flight date or passenger name. This service is additionally payable per passenger per flight, according to the airline's price list. After opening the ticket, passengers may make changes in accordance with the airline's regulations and possible fees. There are restrictions on the time when such a change is possible.
Attention! Passengers travelling with checked baggage and using the online check-in service are still required to attend standard baggage check-in at the airport.
Remember!
- After the online check-in, changes to the ticket are no longer possible (except for Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet).
- At the airport, passengers must have their printed boarding passes with them.
- Boarding passes can be printed in black.
- Each boarding card must be printed on a separate sheet so that one side of the card remains unprinted.
- At the airport, passengers must have the same identity documents that were used when checking in online.