Online Check in unavailable – Why?

[Joe G]

Hi all, just a quick query

We are due to fly from Glasgow to the Caribbean tomorrow via Gatwick. When checking in online I have been assigned seats for our morning flight to Gatwick but have a message saying online check in for the main long haul flight is unavailable and that we need to check in for that at the airport. I was curious as to if anyone knows why this might be the case as I was hoping to be able to secure some decent seats on the long haul flight. I was wondering if anyone had experienced similar and if so what the outcome was?

Thanks

[NorthernLass]

Hopefully this isn’t the case but sometimes this happens if you’ve been downgraded, or even bumped 😬. Which cabin are you flying in?
Hopefully someone else can check if the flight seems to be full.
I don’t know if any Caribbean destinations asking for extra security checks, which can cause issues checking in, like, e.g. to the USA.
It might just be BA IT though! Keep us updated as there’s plenty of good advice available if the flight is actually affected.

[Joe G]

For the first time in a while we are flying economy (Booked a BA holiday with cash rather than using points) so at least there is no fear of being downgraded though I hope there are no issues with the flight itself.

Flight to the Dominican Republic leaves at lunchtime so might be to do with it being more than 24hrs for that flight? That said I think the app usually lets you check in to your connecting flight as long as it’s 24hrs before the first part of your booking.

I’ll post an update here when I find out what transpires!

[Roberto]

There’s still seats available in ecomony so don’t worry about getting bumped.

If you want to choose your seats before the general stamped at 1pm you could call BA this morning.

[Joe G]

So I decided to just phone BA, I was initially told that I couldn’t check in for the second leg of my journey because it was more than 24hrs before the connection, when I queried this in relation to the many times I have done this in the past I was then told it was because I was travelling with an Irish passport which I also didn’t think made much sense. I guess I’ll just turn up at the airport tomorrow and see what happens!

[SamG]

Try saving your passport detail again and then try checking in. That has worked for me in the past !

[John]

Sometimes there’s just no reason. In the 5 years before brexit, there were two times when I was unable to check in online with BA for a UK to Schengen flight, even though I had no trouble with any other BA short-haul over the same period, all booked in the same way and I never touched the saved API.

Had to check in at the airport with an agent (kiosks wouldn’t work either). The agent suggested that maybe once in a while the system wanted to force a staff member to physically swipe my passport just to make sure it existed – since I always used a mobile BP and never checked luggage, and at the gate it’s only a visual check

[Skywalker]

Joe G wrote:

For the first time in a while we are flying economy (Booked a BA holiday with cash rather than using points) so at least there is no fear of being downgraded

Anything is possible with BA’s IT – you might find yourselves in the cargo hold!

[Joe G]

Don’t get me started on BA IT, when we booked this holiday in the first place they double charged us for it (along with many others as a known system issue) to the tune of thousands of pounds and it took a while to get that money back and they seemed relatively unapologetic/ unconcerned about it.

I’m only bothered about checking in online in the first place to try and secure the luxury of sitting with the others on my booking which hasn’t happened on recent flights flying both Business and PE. I think BA are just trying to rid me of my cheapskate ways and doing their best to encourage me to pay for selecting seats in future.

[Super Secret Stuff]

Happens to me on BA when I request assistance. Maybe that?

[tobynow]

Do you have kids with you?

This happened to us all the time when flying with an infant. Stressed me out no end until a nice BA call agent told me it was because they had blocked certain seats for our infant and the system couldn’t show that.

[Joe G]

No Children with us or assistance required, tried again at 24hrs before the long haul flight when online check in for that flight alone would have been available but system was still not having it. I’ll just have to see what happens when we appear at the airport tomorrow. I will be annoyed if we get rubbish seats because of it (or bumped from the flight in the worst case scenario) but not much more we can do really at this stage I suppose.

[dst87]

@Joe G how did it go today? Did you manage to check in at the airport? Any indication what the problem was?

[AndrewT]

The OP will have flown by now and probably found out for themselves, but I thought it worth providing an update as I had exactly the same situation and couldn’t find any references online. Apparently not being able to check in online is common (but not universal) for PUJ because the airline is responsible for checking you have completed the mandatory immigration e-ticket. When they have checked you gain a red sticker on your boarding pass. Gate staff were making regular announcements that anyone without the requisite sticker should come forward for checking prior to boarding.

Ironically having now flown out and back, none of the immigration staff were remotely interested in the carefully saved PDF with QR code. I guess their system may be matching passport numbers against previously registered details, but you have to wonder why they bother developing a system to produce a QR code that no one ever scans.

[Londonsteve]

Sounds not dissimilar to the Cuban Tarjeta de Turista which you’re supposed to get in advance. A few years ago I diligently sourced one from the Cuban Embassy as did my travelling partner, only to find that on arrival in Havana nobody even looked at it. It’s not because it was digital and connected to my passport, it wasn’t, it was a slip of paper completed by pen, no barcodes or QR codes. Came to the conclusion it’s just a tourist tax to generate hard currency masquerading as an immigration requirement. Without it you couldn’t board the flight, however.

[Joe G]

Hi, all,

OP here, sorry to not provide an update sooner… have been enjoying my holidays.

There was no apparent reason at all for the enforced airport check in, maybe just a random security check? We ended up getting ok seats in the cabin in the end so all good but a bit of unnecessary stress in my opinion

Thanks

[bobthebuilder]

We often get this “unable to check in online” message on flights to the Caribbean. Typically they want to do a passport/visa check, depending on the passport you hold.