Qantas to Remove Domestic Boarding Pass Printing from Kiosks

[Mark1966]

Exactly. Spend my life with a flat phone. I might check in online but have no juice when I get to the gate. Have they fixed the disappearing BP when the flight is late?

… or another bug I’ve heard is for the second sector of a journey

 

[encryptededdy]

Remember you can board with your QFF card domestically if your phone is dead

 

[ChrisMars]

Remember you can board with your QFF card domestically if your phone is dead

Which card? The one Qantas stop sending at the start of covid, or the virtual one on the qantas app of the dead phone?

 

[RichardMEL]

Remember you can board with your QFF card domestically if your phone is dead

well yes and no.

You still need to have checked in which is one of the issues brought up above... but additionally....

At least in my experience.

For those with digital cards - fine - but then if you have the app and digital card you are not part of this "problem" set. (note my use of quotes).

For the physical cards.. well I came across a situation some months back when I used my 2019 issue card (the last physical card I got from QF) and the kiosk (RIP) threw up errors and would not check me in. Odd, as it had always worked prior to this. So I thought OK old kiosk needs replaceing and went to the lounge to check in. Handed over my card and the agents actually also had problems with it.

The explanation I was given was that the bardcode, or whatever it pointed to in the QF database had expired (which makes sense kind of given the original card expiry date was Aug 2020). Sure enough, digital BC is different to the physical card and so I suspect that a new record was created.

So my point being that it may work with physical cards for non status members, or perhaps LT status members (just a guess) but perhaps not for status members with now older cards.

Or it could have just been a glitch that day and I was being told porkies. you decide


anyway one still needs to have checked in via some method before going to board.

 

[Catweazle]

I've still got dozens of old boarding passes in my apple wallet. It's good for nostalgia - ahh the flight to Seville - the flight from Venice

Clogs up the phone though. Give it to me on paper, like the F boarding passes for RTW legs, and I'll archive them in my stamp album instead!

Also, boarding passes are collectable. Loads of QF nuts out there who collect that sort of thing.

 

[tdimdad]

So, there ARE agents and a FEW (not many) staffed counters to check in at (though clearly of course QF prefers we don't) and for those with status obviously lounge can issue BP's if required.

Are we saying that the old-style cardboard BP's are becoming the new status symbol?

 

[levelnine]

Just to clarify, is there now no way for people without a smart phone (for battery or non-battery reasons) to check in/board without queuing up at the service counters unless they have access to a computer and printer within 24 hours of the flight?

In other words, the roving agents can't print boarding passes for people?

 

[SYD]

Just to clarify, is there now no way for people without a smart phone (for battery or non-battery reasons) to check in/board without queuing up at the service counters unless they have access to a computer and printer within 24 hours of the flight?

In other words, the roving agents can't print boarding passes for people?

If you have a physical card, you can scan that at the gate. I doubt it makes a difference if the card has expired.

 

[RichardMEL]

Just to clarify, is there now no way for people without a smart phone (for battery or non-battery reasons) to check in/board without queuing up at the service counters unless they have access to a computer and printer within 24 hours of the flight?

In other words, the roving agents can't print boarding passes for people?

From what I could see the roving agents still have their little cubby hole ((at least in MEL) terminal that can print BP's. Though to be honest I did not specifically check or see if the actual terminals were still there, but I see no reason for them to have been removed (apart from the obvious). They are(were?) located in cut outs of the big pillars with the screens on the top of them. In one of the pics you can see where as there's a mat. So I assume yes, but I can't 100% confirm this.

 

[RichardMEL]

If you have a physical card, you can scan that at the gate. I doubt it makes a difference if the card has expired.

but if one isn't checked in, then that would prob mean the pax would have been offloaded(potentially) at the point of boarding.

That's the main point of this thread isn't it? In terms of folks being able to check in at the airport without a mobile device (or potentially queuing) due to removal of kiosks that supported this functionality.

Has anyone actually done this without checking in online or anything and just going direct to the gate and scanning card? I can't see how that would work if pax isn't checked in - but am happy to be corrected

 

[jpp42]

How does it work onboard if you only boarded with your QFF card? Normally the flight attendant wants to see your BP at the aircraft door, and may need to see it again if there's a seating dispute? Are the boarding gates still equipped to print a little receipt with your seat number? I haven't seen that in years.

 

[SYD]

How does it work onboard if you only boarded with your QFF card? Normally the flight attendant wants to see your BP at the aircraft door, and may need to see it again if there's a seating dispute? Are the boarding gates still equipped to print a little receipt with your seat number? I haven't seen that in years.

Reported earlier that they still print the paper receipt (BP). They used to work in tandem with the totem poles (tap your card on arrival to checkin).

Presumably you can still scan the physical card at the kiosk if you weren’t able to checkin online via pc, laptop, tablet, phone…

 

[RooFlyer]

Clogs up the phone though. Give it to me on paper, like the F boarding passes for RTW legs, and I'll archive them in my stamp album instead!

Also, boarding passes are collectable. Loads of QF nuts out there who collect that sort of thing.

Like me. Not so much collected as retained in case of need to follow up claiming points etc. But I do value my old Ansett BPs.

A physical international BP once helped me get a government grant when it proved I took a flight I claimed

 

[Vic]

Which card? The one Qantas stop sending at the start of covid, or the virtual one on the qantas app of the dead phone?

The bar code on the old expired card still works just fine. Well at least to get into the lounge.

Now back onto the new kiosks. I tried to use them a couple of weeks back. 4 people on the booking, 1 plat, 1 gold and 1 silver. Checked in already, get to the kiosk and scan the card in the qantas app... display says something like 'check in one bag?' - You're over you luggage allowance... WTF

business check in counter is open - off we go.

edit: was business class as well, so absolutely no way luggage allowance was an issue.

 

[wotan]

So Qantas save by not having these machines able to print Boarding Passes.

While I am au fait with OLCI, I don't like BP's on 'phones as after scanning I tend to lock the phone and stick it in my pocket. This has caused issues for on entry to the aircraft with me being unable to readily show the FA checking BPs. Paper BP's are so much simpler.

In fact while thinking about this I can see boarding being slowed dramatically by this, such as when the family of 5 front up at L1 loaded to the gills and scramble to show 5 screen shots to the FA.

That happened to me exactly the very 1st time i tried to use the phone , it disappeared and took me over 5 min to get it back.
Paper so much easier and you have physical evidence for disputes

 

[bertflyer]

Used this new system yesterday morning at MEL to try to print luggage tag. Four of the new units wouldn’t read my electronic BP. QF staff apologised and directed me to “the one that’s definitely working today”. Worked fine but this will cause more delays during peak times if not fixed…

 

[1022]

I've been noticing pretty lengthy queues at the 3 or 4 service desks they bother to open at Syd T3 the past month or two since the kiosks were enhanced. Much more people waiting than there used to be. Going purely by optics, they precisely fit the demographics we'd expect to be put out by not being able to use kiosks to check in: older folk, overseas tourists, families who seldom fly.

I don't think anyone in 456 posts so far has managed to come up with a sensible reason why QF would have intentionally installed kiosks that remove a fundamental part of the process of flying, corollary being possibly having to pay more staff to do the job that the beancounters spent the last 10 years coaxing customers to do ourselves.

Final gripe for the night is that they still don't actually give any explicit notification that it's now next to impossible to check in at capital city airports.

 

[TheInsider]

Final gripe for the night is that they still don't actually give any explicit notification that it's now next to impossible to check in at capital city airports.

It's not impossible, you just have to line up and wait with all the others that haven't checked in. Still actually more staff than what there was over 12 years ago when the 'old' kiosks came in.

 

[Harrison_133]

From what I could see the roving agents still have their little cubby hole ((at least in MEL) terminal that can print BP's. Though to be honest I did not specifically check or see if the actual terminals were still there, but I see no reason for them to have been removed (apart from the obvious). They are(were?) located in cut outs of the big pillars with the screens on the top of them. In one of the pics you can see where as there's a mat. So I assume yes, but I can't 100% confirm this.

Yes, the little cubby holes still print BP’s — on actual card stock too, not the flimsy paper like the kiosks had.

On the odd occasion I fly QF, I just approach the staff member at/near the cubby and ask for one to be printed. Unlike in SYD a while back, I had no issues flying out of MEL recently, the staff member did it straight away no questions asked. I got the feeling she was quite used to printing them for people now…

 

[BAM1748]

It's not impossible, you just have to line up and wait with all the others that haven't checked in. Still actually more staff than what there was over 12 years ago when the 'old' kiosks came in.

That stat makes the poor check in customer service experience even worse and avoidable