Qantas Speeds up Boarding with Earlier Checkins

10th Jul 2015

Qantas passengers that have booked a ticket for a domestic flight with this carrier will now have to check in at the airport 30 minutes before the scheduled take off, instead of 15 minutes as it was so far. The Australian carrier made this decision in order to speed up the boarding process.

Doesn't Apply to Frequent Flyer, Club, Gold or Platinum Members

This 'rule' only applies to domestic passengers and not to Qantas Frequent Flyer, or to Qantas Platinum, Gold and Club customers, or to business travelers. They will be able to check in at the airport 20 minutes before departure if they are not carrying any bags

Helen Gray, Qantas head of customer service delivery issued a statement about this:

"We know how important it is for our customers to get to their destination on time, which is why we've been introducing a range of different initiatives to help speed up the boarding and disembarking process. By having everyone checked in earlier, we'll be abet i get all necessary paperwork done in a timelier manner and ultimately get more flights away on time."

Gray also said:

"We looked at the data and found that less than 2 per cent of customers check in for their flights between 15 and 30 minutes. The majority of our customers check in via the app or online 12-24 hours before their flight, so this change will have very little impact for our customers as they're already checking in when ahead of the flight anyway."

How Else does Qantas Speeds Up Boarding?

Qantas passengers can also check in for their flights via Qantas app up to 45 minutes before departure. The app opens 24 hours before the flight is scheduled to depart.

In order to speed up the boarding process and improve its on-time running, Qantas has introduced several things, including bag tagging for passengers with two on-board bags (the smaller bag then has to go under the seat and the larger in the locker above it) and dual door for passengers to board and disembark faster.