Printing boarding passes....

Can anyone tell me ..I know there's a cost to printing boarding passes for homeward flights onboard, anyone know how much?

Also, I've heard they charge to take baggage on last night from staterooms? :confused: can this be true?

Can anyone tell me ..I know there's a cost to printing boarding passes for homeward flights onboard, anyone know how much?

 

Also, I've heard they charge to take baggage on last night from staterooms? :confused: can this be true?

You would have to buy some internet time to print boarding passes. Some ships have a reduced price package for 30 minutes of time on the last day.

There is no charge for taking baggage on the last night. You might be thinking of Luggage Valet, an extra cost service that checks your bags from your stateroom all the way to your destination airport.

You really don't need to print your boarding passes unless you are just trying to avoid having to stop at the airport kiosk or ticket counter. As a frequent business traveler, I find it a bigger hassle to find a place to print a boarding pass at my hotel than to just stop at the curbside baggage check or in-terminal airline kiosk to get my boarding pass. I always check bags, so I am stopping at an airport counter anyhow.

Many airlines now issue them electronically, so you just show your smartphone screen to the TSA and gate agents. The only caveat would be if you are flying Southwest where you need to do online check-in to get a boarding position assignment. But you can pay a nominal extra fee to get Early Bird check-in and not have to worry about that, either.

You really don't need to print your boarding passes unless you are just trying to avoid having to stop at the airport kiosk or ticket counter. As a frequent business traveler, I find it a bigger hassle to find a place to print a boarding pass at my hotel than to just stop at the curbside baggage check or in-terminal airline kiosk to get my boarding pass. I always check bags, so I am stopping at an airport counter anyhow.

 

Many airlines now issue them electronically, so you just show your smartphone screen to the TSA and gate agents. The only caveat would be if you are flying Southwest where you need to do online check-in to get a boarding position assignment. But you can pay a nominal extra fee to get Early Bird check-in and not have to worry about that, either.

And if you're on Southwest I would recommend spending the ten bucks for the Early Bird check-in anyways just to save stress. That's exactly what we did--just did EB check-in, then when we got to the airport we just printed the boarding passes out at the kiosk, got well within the early part of the boarding, no muss, no fuss.

(Where I live, pretty much anything is going to involve a transfer, and Southwest is about the only one with direct flights to Orlando and non-regional-jet flights to hubs; I also prefer being in a 737 to a glorified Learjet, and just about everyone aside from Southwest uses those tiny glorified-Learjet regional jets. Only option otherwise is driving to Cincinnati (Delta, therefore expensive and STILL involving a transfer, or Allegiant). If JetBlue actually flew anywhere close I'd probably have them as the Faithful Competition, but they don't, so I do Southwest. ;) Your mileage may differ, though.)

I did not get the internet package at all because SO and I both work on Internet things as part of our work and explicitly took our cruise to relax, unplug, defrag and be completely inaccessible by our workplaces :D Plus $10 per customer for Southwest EB check-in is still cheaper than wifi on the ship...

I also always pay for Early Bird on SWA. I am the worst to forget to do online check-in, and sometimes I'll be in an inconvenient place to do it when the 24-hour mark hits. I just factor that into my cost of flights.

You really don't need to print your boarding passes unless you are just trying to avoid having to stop at the airport kiosk or ticket counter. As a frequent business traveler, I find it a bigger hassle to find a place to print a boarding pass at my hotel than to just stop at the curbside baggage check or in-terminal airline kiosk to get my boarding pass. I always check bags, so I am stopping at an airport counter anyhow.

 

Many airlines now issue them electronically, so you just show your smartphone screen to the TSA and gate agents. The only caveat would be if you are flying Southwest where you need to do online check-in to get a boarding position assignment. But you can pay a nominal extra fee to get Early Bird check-in and not have to worry about that, either.

So I always wanted to ask someone about this, and it seems you know, so here goes. If you do the electronic boarding pass on your phone, how does TSA identify that as being checked? We have always used the paper ones and then initial it when you go through, so I've always wondered, how does anyone after security validate that TSA has checked you when using the electronic version?

So I always wanted to ask someone about this, and it seems you know, so here goes. If you do the electronic boarding pass on your phone, how does TSA identify that as being checked? We have always used the paper ones and then initial it when you go through, so I've always wondered, how does anyone after security validate that TSA has checked you when using the electronic version?

It just gets recorded in the data base as checked. Only bad thing about using your phone is make sure battery is charged. If it dies you are out of luck

Early Bird check in for Southwest is $12.50 now. It hasn't been $10 for quite some time.

Just do online check-in via your phone that morning (you'll be using signals from shore by then)...print the pass at the airport.

It just gets recorded in the data base as checked. Only bad thing about using your phone is make sure battery is charged. If it dies you are out of luck

Yep, TSA check-in of passengers going through security is all computerized now. I think the TSA signature on the paper boarding pass is just a leftover from before they were connected into the airlines' systems. Back when the TSA began managing airport security, they would visually examine the boarding pass for the passenger's name, gate, date, etc. A "bad guy" could have forged a boarding pass and made it into secure areas. Now, they scan the boarding pass and validate it with the airline. It also flags you as a passenger who has gone through security. If for some reason, you leave the secure area and return, you may be questioned since they know.

And yes, if you are going to do this, make sure your phone or tablet device is charged and working! Of course worst case scenario is that you have to go back to the airline desk to get a paper boarding pass. If you lose your boarding pass before reaching the gate, you can get a replacement at the gate desk or airline ticket counter within the secure area. It's not like in the glamorous days of air travel when a ticket was like cash. The paper boarding pass is just a thing of convenience to be scanned. I figure it won't be long before they just start using facial recognition and do away with both IDs and boarding passes.

Can anyone tell me ..I know there's a cost to printing boarding passes for homeward flights onboard, anyone know how much?

 

Also, I've heard they charge to take baggage on last night from staterooms? :confused: can this be true?

Luggage Valet is wonderful. $20 - put your bags outside your stateroom and see them again when you land at home.

Wouldn't that be $40 for two people for luggage valet?

Wouldn't that be $40 for two people for luggage valet?

Yes. However, if you fly Southwest and you have only two bags to check between you, then you can put both bags in one name and save $20.

Thanks for the information. I was worried about not getting that 2nd boarding pass delivered if we didn't pay the $40. We will only have 2 bags, but maybe not SW. I purchased two going to FL, but haven't bought the return yet for March because the return times are terrible. May use another airline for return. I do prefer SW though.

Thanks for the information. I was worried about not getting that 2nd boarding pass delivered if we didn't pay the $40. We will only have 2 bags, but maybe not SW. I purchased two going to FL, but haven't bought the return yet for March because the return times are terrible. May use another airline for return. I do prefer SW though.

You can get the boarding pass yourself. In fact, if you fly Southwest and use Luggage Valet, I strongly recommend that you get all boarding passes yourself unless you have Early Bird. You have no idea when the crew will check you in, and may find yourself with late boarding number.

Yes. However, if you fly Southwest and you have only two bags to check between you, then you can put both bags in one name and save $20.

In this case wouldn't the ship only print 1 boarding pass? The other person would still have to check in and print their BP.

In this case wouldn't the ship only print 1 boarding pass? The other person would still have to check in and print their BP.

Correct, however, as I mentioned above, if you don't have Early Bird, you should check in yourself, even if you are using Luggage Valet. If you do have Early Bird, then there's no need to check in before you get to the airport anyhow.

Keep in mind that on SWA, "checking in" and "printing the boarding pass" seem to be the same thing, but they aren't. With EB, there is no need to do online check-in as SWA does it for you. Without EB, you'll want to do online check-in at the 24-hour mark to get a good boarding position. The check-in process will prompt you to print your boarding pass, but you don't have to at that time. You can wait until you are at the airport and get it from the curbside baggage check desk, a ticket kiosk, or the SWA ticket counter. If using Luggage Valet, if you have already checked-in when they print your boarding passes, they will have your original boarding position on them. Basically once you check-in, however you do that, your boarding position is assigned and remains with your reservation no matter how you print your boarding pass.

Thanks to all of you for the information.