24hrs BA boarding pass printing..?

Charlton_King

Have I understood this correctly? BA doesn't allow printing of boarding passes until 24hrs before the flight time?

richardw

Generally, yes.

Caroline_a

BA will allow you to check in, select your seats and from there print out your boarding pass or send it to your mobile (I used this recently, it's very cool!). All within the 24 hours before you fly.

dzug1

You can (if you pay) choose your seats earlier though

Neil49

Had the same when flying with Virgin Atlantic to NY.

Could be to ensure you can't select the wrong day for the flight (as many are daily and use the same flight code) or just to allow those paying more to have first choice of what is available.

trolleyrun

You don't have to print your boarding card. You can check in online (no earlier than 24hrs before), choose your seat and click on "collect boarding card at airport". Then when you get to the airport, you go to self-service check-in or desk to get your BC (free of charge, of course).

This is posted in the spirit of money saving as getting your BC at the airport will save your ink and paper supply

mkellerman

Many airlines have this kind of restriction. I thought it might be because until 24 hours they haven't absolutely confirmed the type of plane and hence seating layout to be used for the flight.

callum9999

mkellerman wrote: »

Many airlines have this kind of restriction. I thought it might be because until 24 hours they haven't absolutely confirmed the type of plane and hence seating layout to be used for the flight.

I highly doubt it as if you have any status with the airline (or pay extra) you can choose your seats any time after booking.

Short of some kind of emergency, BA will know what plane it's using for each trip months in advance. It even tells you what type of plane it is when you're searching for a flight.

I'd personally say it's just a relic from back when online check-in was first introduced. Then instead of extending the time, they decided to monetise it to get more revenue.

jpsartre

While I think you're right about the explanation, there's a big difference between requesting a seat in advance and checking in. If the airline has, say, 50 passengers checked in, with issued boarding passes and confirmed seats, it's a lot more hassle if there's then an aircraft change since they would potentially need to get new boarding passes.

RachVG

Exactly - many airlines let you pick your seats as soon as you book for free (with Virgin you can pick them from anywhere between as soon as you book and 90 days before the flight - their system has been changing recently but basically they'll notify you when you can do it, it's not a premium service) but checking in is something different entirely. I think as well having people physically "checking in" more than 24 hours before the flight would cause all sorts of kerfuffle - what if you checked in, claimed your boarding pass and then had to cancel your flight? This can obviously still happen within the 24 hour window, but less often due to the smaller window so causes much less of an admin headache for the airline.

callum9999

jpsartre wrote: »

While I think you're right about the explanation, there's a big difference between requesting a seat in advance and checking in. If the airline has, say, 50 passengers checked in, with issued boarding passes and confirmed seats, it's a lot more hassle if there's then an aircraft change since they would potentially need to get new boarding passes.

How often does that ever happen though? It's not as if they have a wide variety of plane types to choose from - the replacement plane will most likely have all/most of the seat numbers of people checked in already so it would just be a straight transfer. And I'd imagine the vast majority of people on BA will be checking bags, at which point they just press a couple of buttons at the bag-drop desk and you have a new boarding pass (I've changed my seat at the desks on pretty much every full-service flight I've taken (to get exit row seats) and it's taken seconds).

Though I guess you could be right. Even with the very limited extra hassle, they may just not see the point.