News

Air France introduces online check-in

20 Apr 2006 by business traveller

Air France and its partner airline KLM have joined the growing list of airlines offering internet check-in for most destinations. Passengers can now check-in online at their leisure between 24 hours and 30 minutes before the check-in deadline for their flight, and choose to print out their boarding pass or collect it at one of the self-service kiosks at the airport.

Passengers may use the service whether they are travelling with or without checked baggage, an added bonus compared to the online check-in facilities recently introduced by low cost carriers Easyjet and Ryanair (see Online news February 23 and January 25 respectively), which are for passengers with hand luggage only.

The service follows British Airways' announcement that from April 25 all domestic passengers must check-in using online or self service kiosks (see Online news March 23). Internet check-in represents yet another cost saving opportunity for airlines, complementing the established e-ticketing now used by the majority of carriers. There are undoubted advantages for the consumer, such as being able to arrive later at the airport, choosing seats online, and ensuring that frequent flyer details are attached to the purchase.

But it is still a relatively new concept, and airlines have had mixed experiences in delivering the product to the consumer. The Bmi website for example provides excellent demonstrations of its online and self check-in facilities, but when a member of the Business Traveller team tried to access his account on two separate occasions in the last week, he found the service to be temporarily unavailable. Understandably there has also been concern from the airlines regarding online credit card fraud, and Business Traveller will be publishing an investigation into the implications in its May issue.

In other news, Air France has announced plans to allow passengers to use their mobile phones onboard flights. Trials will begin in early 2007 on new A318 aircraft fitted with 'OnAir', an inflight system which allows mobiles to be used without the risk of disrupting the plane's navigation.

The service will enable passengers to send and receive calls and text messages, access the internet in WAP/imode, and receive and send emails on a laptop or PDA. Exact details of the service are sketchy at present, although Business Traveller understands that call tariffs will be comparable to the international roaming agreements currently used by phone operators.

For more information visit airfrance.com, klm.com

Report by Mark Caswell

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