EasyJet to close airport check-in desks

Planning to take-off on an easyJet flight? Don’t forget to check-in online! The low cost giant will soon close its airport check-in counters, replacing them with bag-drop desks instead.

Queuing up at your airline’s check-in desk as soon as you arrive at the airport used to be just another part of travelling. Starting April 30th, easyJet will replace its airport check-in decks with bag-drop desks for passengers who plan to check luggage for their trips in hopes of encouraging more passengers to check-in and print their boarding passes at home.

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Of course it’s not always possible or it totally slips your mind to check in as you rush to pack your things and get to the airport. If you do forget it’s not the end of the world, you’ll be able to do it at one of the airline’s kiosks free of charge.

Did you know Ryanair got rid of its airport check-in desks in 2009 and currently charges passengers £70 each if they forget to check-in online?

easyJet is by far the more compassionate of the low cost airlines as it has promised to continue to offer limited check-in services at the airport for the next few months and has no intentions of charging passengers fees like Ryanair does if they forget to check-in online or fail to print their boarding passes.

Currently 80% of easyJet passengers check-in online and the move is only to help passengers get through to the airport gate a little bit faster instead of standing in unnecessary queues. An airline spokesman said,

“We try to be a bit more customer friendly than Ryanair, and hope passengers choose to check-in online without the threat of punitive charges.“

Check-in

easyJet passengers can check-in online from 30 days before departure until 2 hours before the scheduled departure time. That’s loads of time! You can print your boarding passes at any time during this period. As soon as you arrive at the airport you can go straight to airport security if you’ve got no luggage to check. Just don’t forget that the gate closes 30 minutes before departure!

Do you use online check-in or leave it for the airport?

Img: dr_tr / Flickr cc.