How do you print your boarding passes for the flight home after the cruise?

It just occurred to me that while printing for the flight to the cruise is easy (we'll be at home), I have no idea how we can print the boarding passes for our flight home after the cruise. They normally can only be printed 24 hours before, and we aren't staying overnight in Seattle so we can't use the hotel's printer. We've done this before but I don't remember how we got our boarding passes. (I've slept since then ...)

I don't print them. If we check in prior to leaving the ship we wait until we get to the airport and check our luggage to get our boarding pass. Sometimes we have domestic flights on Southwest in US departures and I usually buy the Early Bird tickets for our return home so I don't have to try to check in 24 hours in advance.

 

Anyway, there's no law that says you need a boarding pass before you arrive at the airport.

You can use the airline's kiosk at the airport, or simply have the agent at the counter do it for you.

 

Or, check in online and send a mobile boarding pass to your phone.

On Carnival, we use the computers and printers provided to print ours. It is usually a pretty crowded place the last night of the cruise.

Thanks for the replies. I don't know if Alaska Airlines does phone boarding passes but I can check. We are on the Norwegian Pearl and I didn't see anything about their internet cafe having a printer, something else to look into.

 

Someone needs to come out with a small, lightweight, portable printer!

AS has a phone app that has integrated check-in and boarding passes. Also found with UA, AA, DL to name a few.

 

As for a mobile printer, I've used the Canon iP100 for a number of years and am quite happy with it. It's been replaced with the newer iP110: LINK HERE

.....We are on the Norwegian Pearl and I didn't see anything about their internet cafe having a printer, something else to look into.

 

......

 

I have never been on NCL, but every internet cafe on every cruise line I have been on has had a printer available for passengers. Might want to ask on the Norwegian forum for confirmation.

AS usual flyertalker is right, just download the app to your phone and you won't need to find a printer or have to keep up with a piece of paper. I'm living for the day when the cruise lines do the same.

Cool! One problem, though - does it show both people on a connected reservation? DH refuses to have a smart phone, will I have to print his boarding pass?

 

Shoot, it won't accept my reservation - says "expired or invalid confirmation code" :(

 

they really need to work on that system. It couldn't find my Alaska flight when I put in the code for my Spirit flight in April. lol

Edited February 16, 2017 by mamasylvia

Cool! One problem, though - does it show both people on a connected reservation? DH refuses to have a smart phone, will I have to print his boarding pass?

 

I think presenting a smart phone at the gate to board and then saying hand on, while I try to get the one for the other passenger is awkward. Not certain if it can be done, perhaps.

 

You can always check in online (pick seats etc), decline to print the boarding pass and then print them from the kiosk at the airport.

 

If you fly regularly with Alaska then setting up the app may also make sense.

Both reservations showed up on the app (once I put in the right code lol), so hopefully both boarding passes will show also when we fly. And I am perfectly delighted to not have to mess with paper boarding passes. Thanks for steering me to it! I am perfectly willing to install a free app that I will only use once. Too bad Spirit doesn't have one too. (And it looks like they are the only airline that doesn't!)

If you are checking any bags, you will need to stop at a kiosk to print/pay for your luggage tags. That same kiosk will also print out your boarding pass(es), so if you already have seat assignments, there really isn't much advantage to checking in ahead of time. If, on the other hand, you are doing carry-on only, having a mobile or printed boarding pass will allow you to skip the check in area and proceed directly to the security checkpoint

Definitely checking bags and a wheelchair (the scooter is coming with me to the gate)

I think presenting a smart phone at the gate to board and then saying hand on, while I try to get the one for the other passenger is awkward. Not certain if it can be done, perhaps.

 

You can always check in online (pick seats etc), decline to print the boarding pass and then print them from the kiosk at the airport.

 

If you fly regularly with Alaska then setting up the app may also make sense.

I'm probably one of the few that will agree with you. I still prefer the paper boarding pass....not interested in fumbling with my phone that isn't very "smart" ;)

I'm probably one of the few that will agree with you. I still prefer the paper boarding pass....not interested in fumbling with my phone that isn't very "smart" ;)

The one (and only) time I tried using the mobile boarding pass, my phone battery died just as boarding began. Very frustrating. I've since replaced that battery. :)

That same kiosk will also print out your boarding pass(es), so if you already have seat assignments, there really isn't much advantage to checking in ahead of time.

It's important not to confuse two separate things.

 

It can be important or at least useful to check-in ahead of time. Particularly if you don't already have seat allocations, or you want to see if there's anything better. And if the flight is very full, those who have checked-in earlier may be at less risk of being put on standby or bumped off the flight altogether. So there can be advantages to checking-in ahead of time.

 

Printing your boarding pass ahead of time is a different kettle of fish. If you have bags to drop, that is indeed pointless.

 

Hence my usual practice: check-in early, don't print a boarding pass. The two steps are different, and shouldn't be confused with each other.

Hence my usual practice: check-in early, don't print a boarding pass. The two steps are different, and shouldn't be confused with each other.

I understand that, but unless I had poor seats (or no seats), I would not pay exorbitant cruise ship internet prices just so I could check in a day early.

I understand that, but unless I had poor seats (or no seats), I would not pay exorbitant cruise ship internet prices just so I could check in a day early.

 

 

 

Not really. Generally $.75 per minute. Should only take three to four minutes. Log in, go through the checking in process, then print. There are always attendants to lend a hand. You should have already chosen your seats months ago when you first book.

You should have already chosen your seats months ago when you first book.

Exactly. Which is why I haven't seen the need to check in online while I'm on a cruise ship.

Should only take three to four minutes...

At home, sure, but from what I have heard, cruise ship internet speed can be painfully slow. (Haven't really tried it myself though)

> I would not pay exorbitant cruise ship internet prices just so I could check in a day early.

 

Not an issue for me. Mid-afternoon flight and I should have unlimited internet access through my phone once we get close to the dock, so checking in that morning should be plenty early enough.

 

I don't know what DH would do without me, since he refuses to use a smartphone, but when I'm gone it won't be my problem any more. :D

Cool! One problem, though - does it show both people on a connected reservation? DH refuses to have a smart phone, will I have to print his boarding pass?

 

Shoot, it won't accept my reservation - says "expired or invalid confirmation code" :(

 

they really need to work on that system. It couldn't find my Alaska flight when I put in the code for my Spirit flight in April. lol

 

I think presenting a smart phone at the gate to board and then saying hand on, while I try to get the one for the other passenger is awkward. Not certain if it can be done, perhaps.

 

You can always check in online (pick seats etc), decline to print the boarding pass and then print them from the kiosk at the airport.

 

If you fly regularly with Alaska then setting up the app may also make sense.

 

 

It can be done. Check in, then send the boarding passes to Wallet (on the iPhone, anyway). All you have to do is swipe from one BP to the other.

 

I still prefer a paper boarding pass, but have actually had one of those fail when going through Pre-Check. The TSA agent told me to pull it up on my phone and that one worked (I stood to one side while I did so as not to hold up other passengers).

 

I normally check in for my flight when I wake up on disembarkation day and I'm back in T Mobile territory (I'll do it sooner if I have Internet minutes to burn and happen to think of it the night before). I don't wait until I get to the airport because I have seen aircraft changes result in people being bumped down a class or to a later flight. I don't care to be one of those people. I get the paper BP at the airport.

You should have already chosen your seats months ago when you first book.

Not neccessarily. This can depend on factors such as your airline, your flight, your fare, and your personal willingness to pay extra. And on whether your airline has changed your seat allocation or even simply removed it after the time of booking (but of course this can also happen after you check-in). All of this can make early check-in worthwhile, but IME there is never any need to worry about whether one can print a boarding pass.

Someone needs to come out with a small, lightweight, portable printer!

 

Seems cumbersome to carry a printer, no matter how small, just to print BPs at the end of a cruise. Smarter solution is mobile boarding passes, which most major airlines have available now through their apps. ;)

 

Airline apps have a number of other useful features, beyond mobile BPs. I use the Delta app all the time. It allows me to track my bags to confirm that they were loaded onto the aircraft. I can check my connecting flight immediately upon touch down to see if it's on time or delayed and what gate it's assigned to, so I know immediately where I need to go once inside the terminal and how much time I have. I can check the flight status of a different flight a friend is on who's meeting up with me. I can check my status on the upgrade list. I can check seat availability and move my seat if something preferable has opened up. And on and on and on.

 

 

I think presenting a smart phone at the gate to board and then saying hand on, while I try to get the one for the other passenger is awkward.

 

Easily solved by going into the app prior to getting in line to board (or before getting in line to go through security), and taking a screen shot of each boarding pass. Then one only has to pull them up in the phone's "photos" where the 2 screen shots will be right next to each other. Easy to present one and then swipe forward or backward to the other.

 

Note: I always take a screenshot of my mobile boarding pass, even though it's usually just me traveling and I only need to pull up one BP. That way, if I get to the TSA agent or the gate agent and find the internet connection isn't good enough to quickly get into the airline app, or the app is freezing, I can always still access "photos" and get my BP very quickly. I've waited in line way too often behind someone in that situation and always suggest to them that next time they take a screen shot ahead of time. They are always appreciative of this simple but useful solution.

Great thread. I never even thought about this, and with the requirement to check in 24 hrs prior to departure, it got me realizing that I'll download AA's app on the phone just so I can check us in the night before.I didn't think printing out boarding passes were the resp. of the traveler....we've always just checked in at the gate and had it done at the kiosk.