Boarding passes and online check-in

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Accepted answer

I'll just throw in my 2c here. I have 40-50 international flights in the last 3 years going from Europe, usually with one more more transfer elsewhere in Europe and typically to the USA (often with transfers there too). Different countries have different requirements for advanced passenger information. Some countries won't let you board without pre-approving your trip. This especially comes into play with trips to the USA where it is possible to travel on the visa waiver program (ESTA) or with a visa. The USA won't let anyone board without confirmation that the person has a visa or ESTA and is not on the no-fly list. Some airlines allow you to provide visa information in advance, and some don't.

What this means is that there may be different restrictions between different parts of your journey that allow you to check-in but not print boarding passes, or not even check-in at all. Sometimes this means that you haven't been approved to take the next flight without someone taking sight of your passport and potentially visa and entering it into the system.

Notwithstanding these type of restrictions, lots of other things can happen to a set of flights that prevent printing boarding passes,e.g.

  • requirement to show a credit card to prove it's not a fraudulent payment
  • an aircraft change forcing a change of seating meaning that you may have lost your seat and it hasn't been reassigned yet
  • overbooking meaning they haven't yet figured out who may be on the flight.
  • flight ticketing issues such as flight time changes and the ticket hasn't been re-issued, or segments have become out of order

Since you've been issued the first boarding pass, it's almost certain that if there are any other issues, you can resolve them at the airport and they can probably print your boarding pass for the next segment. Even if you can't, as long as you have enough time you should be able to get it at the transfer desk in Istanbul.

Even if I do the exact same set of flights, I've had occasions where I can't get all boarding passes at once, nor get them at the first airport. It's a bit concerning if you have a short connection, but so far I've never missed a flight yet.

You'll be ok!

Upvote:2

When you check-in, you do so for the whole flight including any layover. However, depending on the airline and the mode of check-in you may not get all the boarding passes right away.

Printing your boarding pass at the airport (departing or transiting) is also a pretty safe bet, I've done this many times. Just head to your airline counter or a kiosk and check-in from there, you'll get a boarding pass. You're also given a boarding pass at the airline counter when you check your bags too.

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