rkkwan,
So do you think that there is any truth to what people were saying earlier in this p\ost that, even if i bought my tickets 6 months ago, i could get bumped when i get to the airport since i didnt on-line check in at home and the people that did get first dibs on a seat, that seems weird to me.

travel4425-I agree. I booked our flight to Scotland months ago for departure in Oct. I've chosen seats and everything. Can't believe we could get bumped just because I'm not going to do online checkin and print passes at home. If someone must get bumped, it seems last booked, first bumped would make more sense.

Travel4425 - When you bought your tickets plays no part whether you get bumped or not. Many factors do, like getting seat assignments and/or check-in time. But buying months in advance means nothing if you don't have an assigned seat, or if you don't check once in a while that you still have that assignments.

I have yet to check in on line before a flight. I've never been denied my seat (knock on wood). I'm usually early, if travelling solo, but if travelling with family members, we always have a rush to get there and then end up hoping we don't miss the flight (they hate waiting around the airport!). And we always have bags to check. I still get last-minute upgrades so I'm not so sure that early check-in is all that necessary (IMO anyway).

simpsonc - I don't know the UA system that well, and I don't know how things may change after the UA/CO merger is completed, but there are too many times to count during the past decade that I grabbed better seats for myself and/or my parents (CO gold elites) on both domestic (when not upgraded) and int'l flights (not upgrade eligible) during OLCI flying CO. Plus other occasions on other carriers.

I always pick my seat on UA when I book my ticket. Then I watch that seat like a hawk, just to make sure I keep it!!! I'm not one who changes seats at check-in. I get what I want when I buy the ticket instead. Maybe others do what you do.... I don't know.

Carol, I always check in on line. Often, if there wasn't a great seat when I purchased, or even a week or two before, there is a great seat available at the last minute and I change my seats as needed to get the best seat.

I usually don’t worry about seats on domestic flights. Who cares about what seat you get on a 2 hour flight. . I can suck up a bad seat for a couple of hours. Now a 16 hour flight to Australia is a totally different story.

I care about which seat I get on a bus for a 20-minute ride, and therefore care about my seat on a 2-hr flight. If you look at my pictures on my Zenfolio site, many are from bulkhead or exit rows. Many of them come from OLCI. Some aren't released by airline prior, some opens up when higher elites get upgraded.

In the grand scheme of a huge trip, the last thing in my thought process is seat placement; there are so many other more important things to be concerned about when traveling. I don’t sweat the very small stuff.

For us seats are pretty important. On a long transAtlantic flight, I want to sit by my husband, and he beside me. We lean on each other when sleeping. We share pillows, blankets, the carryon with the books, puzzles, snacks, meds.

I'm claustrophobic, so I pay a lot of attention to my seats. It's one of the reasons that I'm so loyal to Delta, as having status with an airline usually means that you've got a better choice of seats. A middle seat in the back of packed plane is a non-starter for me. I do watch my seat assignment on line (I travel a fair amount for work, so am on the Delta web site pretty frequently anyway), as seat assignments can "disappear" if there's an equipment change or occasionally even if there's a schedule change, even one as small as five minutes earlier or later.

Different strokes i guess.

I agree about "different strokes," but for me the seating on long hauls is very important. Due to some medical issues I need the ability to get up and walk around frequently, therefore I always get an aisle seat for long hauls. For short hops it's not so important.

I always print out our boarding passes the night before and frequently change our seats to better seats (even if we have to pay more) at that time. Works great for us.

Years ago, I heard that when you check in, they will consider you to have taken the flight, even if you have a last minute emergency and miss the flight. The reason I remembered it was because if you have a non-refundable ticket, you can always cancel it at the last moment and get a credit for much of what you paid for future use on that airline. You can't do that if you have already checked in. If that was and remains true, it would be a reason to avoid online check in.

On the other hand, checking in at the earliest opportunity is often a good opportunity to get better seats, as the good seats typically reserved for frequent flyers, and those vacated by people who have been upgraded, are usually made available when OLCI starts.

Having checked-in definitely isn't the same as taking the flight - otherwise too many ways to get lower fare by using unflown tagged on segments. And in cases where one needs to change itinerary after checked-in, an airline agent can always uncheck you.

Ok, lets put this to rest. Besides seat choices, what is the advantage to chekcing in on-line?

If you are simply talking about check-in and not about printing.

1. Seat choice
2. Less likely to get bumped if oversold
3. When applicable, free upgrade priority

By seat choice, not only do I mean choosing a new seat, but also mean less likely to get reassigned.