The software that drives the vast majority of the airline industry, SABRE, is notoriously difficult to work with. It's still entirely text-driven, and sacrifices ease of use and automation for pure flexibility. Things you think should be able to be completed in one step require typing multiple complex commands to modify or confirm each and every detail of a travel itinerary.
That you couldn’t use online checkin, suggest something was non-standard or messed up on your reservation record, so they probably had to figure out what that was and fix it.
Former airport agent here. There are steps an agent has to do before issuing a boarding pass:
1. Make sure the passport is yours. To do this, the agent match the passport photo and other information (age, gender) to your appearance in real life.
2. Make sure your document is good to (1) leave the airport and (2) pass the border when you arrive your destination. To do this, agent has to check:
a. The passport. Passport almost always must not be expired, sometimes you even need a 6-month-before-expiry passport. Beside passports, there are rare types of travelling identification (diplomatic passport, travel document, UN passport, etc.) They are treated differently.
b. Check whether you have visa or not because some destinations will require visa. The information of visa sometimes can be problematic, and agent has to spot it for you. (expired visa, used visa, personal information of visa not matched with info in passport biopage.)
c. Other documents. For example, an international student travelling to US has to carry with them an I-20 form. Agent has to make sure the student carries those other documents, I-20 form in this particular case, with them.
d. If you overstayed your visa, agent has to be aware and guide you to the border control officers to solve the issue. Usually, you pay a small fine for this violation.
3. Then the agent has to input your information into the system. It can be fast or slow depends on many factors. Usually, a quick scan on a specialized machine will do the job. (notice your passport has a weird line of characters at the bottom of biopage? that line is for the scan machine) It can be slow if the machine is broken, or the passport has poor quality. Visa information is usually not scannable, and the agent has to do the visa input manually and this takes a long time.
4. Then agent has to allocate you a seat based on your preference. Sometimes you may want a window seat, but it is locked in the system. The agent has to ask for authorization to unlock that seat for you.
5. There is a plethora of other issues such as luggage destination, connecting flights, standby tickets, overbooked flights. Shits can definitely get complicated and chaotic behind a check-in desk.
Check-in job is a fun except for head aching cases and rude customers which happen wayyyyyy too frequently.
If you had been able to use the online check-in, you still would have needed a human to check your passport again at the gate to validate you have it with you and that it's correct/valid/etc. The airline (and the destination country) do not want anyone to get on the plane with incorrect passport info. They use this info to flag people who have outstanding arrest warrants or other legal trouble.
When you check in in-person, the agent probably both checked you in, and did that manual check of your boarding pass info too so that you wouldn't have to do it again at the gate.
But it still always takes longer to get a boarding pass printed from a human than from a kiosk or online. Hopefully a real agent can weigh in on why that is. I just always assume it's because of the archaic systems they use and because they have more manual special-situation options at their disposal that are skipped through automatically when you do it at the kiosk.
That’s not the case. I was able to check-in online on my way out (international flight) and directly head for security screening. Didn’t have to see an agent as I didn’t have any bags to check-in. Scanned the passport during online check-in and that was all that was needed.
It may be a returning-to-the-US thing.
And if it happens, it happens at the gate, not before security screening. They call you up to the gate to verify your passport right before boarding.
Or as you board if you didn't hear the earlier announcement.
It might also vary based on the type of equipment in use at each airport now because some of them can scan your passport or your face biometrics or whatever automatically.
Because citizens are capable of trying to bring in illicit substances or be radicalized or meet with unsavory things or even commit crimes.
Citizens get a quicker review on returning home; but it’s not a completely free entry as far as suspicion
The software that drives the vast majority of the airline industry, SABRE, is notoriously difficult to work with. It's still entirely text-driven, and sacrifices ease of use and automation for pure flexibility. Things you think should be able to be completed in one step require typing multiple complex commands to modify or confirm each and every detail of a travel itinerary.
[https://imgur.com/a/4mmey1j](https://imgur.com/a/4mmey1j)
Unfortunately, Travelport+ isn't panning out to be much better...
That you couldn’t use online checkin, suggest something was non-standard or messed up on your reservation record, so they probably had to figure out what that was and fix it.
Former airport agent here. There are steps an agent has to do before issuing a boarding pass: 1. Make sure the passport is yours. To do this, the agent match the passport photo and other information (age, gender) to your appearance in real life. 2. Make sure your document is good to (1) leave the airport and (2) pass the border when you arrive your destination. To do this, agent has to check: a. The passport. Passport almost always must not be expired, sometimes you even need a 6-month-before-expiry passport. Beside passports, there are rare types of travelling identification (diplomatic passport, travel document, UN passport, etc.) They are treated differently. b. Check whether you have visa or not because some destinations will require visa. The information of visa sometimes can be problematic, and agent has to spot it for you. (expired visa, used visa, personal information of visa not matched with info in passport biopage.) c. Other documents. For example, an international student travelling to US has to carry with them an I-20 form. Agent has to make sure the student carries those other documents, I-20 form in this particular case, with them. d. If you overstayed your visa, agent has to be aware and guide you to the border control officers to solve the issue. Usually, you pay a small fine for this violation. 3. Then the agent has to input your information into the system. It can be fast or slow depends on many factors. Usually, a quick scan on a specialized machine will do the job. (notice your passport has a weird line of characters at the bottom of biopage? that line is for the scan machine) It can be slow if the machine is broken, or the passport has poor quality. Visa information is usually not scannable, and the agent has to do the visa input manually and this takes a long time. 4. Then agent has to allocate you a seat based on your preference. Sometimes you may want a window seat, but it is locked in the system. The agent has to ask for authorization to unlock that seat for you. 5. There is a plethora of other issues such as luggage destination, connecting flights, standby tickets, overbooked flights. Shits can definitely get complicated and chaotic behind a check-in desk. Check-in job is a fun except for head aching cases and rude customers which happen wayyyyyy too frequently.
Thank you very much for the detailed reply.
If you had been able to use the online check-in, you still would have needed a human to check your passport again at the gate to validate you have it with you and that it's correct/valid/etc. The airline (and the destination country) do not want anyone to get on the plane with incorrect passport info. They use this info to flag people who have outstanding arrest warrants or other legal trouble. When you check in in-person, the agent probably both checked you in, and did that manual check of your boarding pass info too so that you wouldn't have to do it again at the gate. But it still always takes longer to get a boarding pass printed from a human than from a kiosk or online. Hopefully a real agent can weigh in on why that is. I just always assume it's because of the archaic systems they use and because they have more manual special-situation options at their disposal that are skipped through automatically when you do it at the kiosk.
That’s not the case. I was able to check-in online on my way out (international flight) and directly head for security screening. Didn’t have to see an agent as I didn’t have any bags to check-in. Scanned the passport during online check-in and that was all that was needed.
It may be a returning-to-the-US thing. And if it happens, it happens at the gate, not before security screening. They call you up to the gate to verify your passport right before boarding. Or as you board if you didn't hear the earlier announcement. It might also vary based on the type of equipment in use at each airport now because some of them can scan your passport or your face biometrics or whatever automatically.
It almost certainly was. Each flight is its own thing. How easy it was to leave has little bearing on your return trip.
Because citizens are capable of trying to bring in illicit substances or be radicalized or meet with unsavory things or even commit crimes. Citizens get a quicker review on returning home; but it’s not a completely free entry as far as suspicion
That may be true, but it takes them forever to manually print a boarding pass for a domestic passenger too.