# Question about checking in @ the airport **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162 "2017-04-10T11:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/41 "2017-04-14T21:06:10Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Thank you. All of you who posted. > > Haven’t been to The Netherlands since '79. So it’s like being here for the first time…again. Very first time for Doll, though. Beautiful place to be. Enjoy yourselves! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/42 "2017-04-14T21:29:55Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Thank you. All of you who posted. > > Haven’t been to The Netherlands since '79. So it’s like being here for the first time…again. Very first time for Doll, though. Could you do me a solid and pick up a small package in Amsterdam while you’re there? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/43 "2017-04-15T09:54:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Could you do me a solid and pick up a small package in Amsterdam while you’re there? They accidentally shipped it to Colorado. 😛 You sounded like my dopey brother in law. Honestly, if you people can’t find weed in the U.S. perhaps you need a prescription for it for blindness! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/44 "2017-04-15T21:54:39Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > They accidentally shipped it to Colorado. 😛 > > You sounded like my dopey brother in law. Honestly, if you people can’t find weed in the U.S. perhaps you need a prescription for it for blindness! 😃 😃 I’m actually well supplied, it’s just “what you say to someone who’s gonna be there”. My brother brought me back a very nice glass pipe. Although it was obviously unused, it aroused interest going through customs. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/45 "2017-04-15T23:02:32Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Honestly, if you people can’t find weed in the U.S. perhaps you need a prescription for it for blindness! 😃 Actually, I’d have no idea where to get weed in the USA. In China, I knew people who used weed, so presumably they’d tell me where to get it, but here in Michigan, I can’t just very well walk up to my colleagues and say, “Yo, you carryin’?” I could go to one of those doctors complaining about, well, anything, and get a permit, but that seems like a hassle if I wanted a dime bag for a special occasion. And, no, this isn’t a solicitation. I’m not actually looking. Just pointing out, it’s not really easy for respectable, law-abiding types. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/46 "2017-04-15T23:51:14Z")
I love Amsterdam! Such great restaurants, and so many places to get rijsttafel! And the Rembrandts in the Rijksmuseum, just beautiful. Have a great time. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/47 "2017-04-16T01:08:09Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Actually, I’d have no idea where to get weed in the USA. In China, I knew people who used weed, so presumably they’d tell me where to get it, but here in Michigan, I can’t just very well walk up to my colleagues and say, “Yo, you carryin’?” > > I could go to one of those doctors complaining about, well, anything, and get a permit, but that seems like a hassle if I wanted a dime bag for a special occasion. > > And, no, this isn’t a solicitation. I’m not actually looking. Just pointing out, it’s not really easy for respectable, law-abiding types. You could always come to Washington state. I get glossy flyers in the mail advertising the new recreational marijuana store that is opening next to the local Starbucks. Also, it’s kind of joined the ranks of mattress stores in that there are a lot of sign spinners for it too. I’m still not used to how mainstream it’s become, even here in suburban Bellevue. ---
**Author:** ![analogqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@analogqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/analogqueen)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/48 "2017-04-16T06:29:14Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Of the zillions of times we’ve flown, this has never come up. > > Wife and I are flying to Europe on Thursday. Unfortunately I have to work a full shift before we are scheduled to leave so time will be tight. And I have no way of getting out of the shift. With this trip I’m completely out of vaca time, comp time, and personal leave, and none of that get’s refreshed until July 1st. Nobody was able to switch with me and if I call in sick they’ll know why and I’ll end up with a fact finding and a write up. > > I was thinking about checking us in and dropping off our luggage at the airport on my way to work. That way we’d have our boarding passes and everything and could just go right to TSA when we both go. > > In the past we’ve checked in online and printed our passes, but that was for domestic flights. > > For an international flight will they let me check her in and drop off her luggage with out my wife physically being there? I’ll of course have her passport with me. > > I couldn’t find any FAQ’s on this online. Do this- but ask q’s like this on FlyerTalk site next time. Way more helpful and people that are pro’s on the subject ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/49 "2017-04-17T10:56:39Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I’m not actually looking. Just pointing out, it’s not really easy for respectable, law-abiding types. Hey. Waitaminute. _I’m_ a “respectable, law-abiding type”, but I manage just fine. When I’m at a party, at the marina, at a bar, at the mall, etc, there’s just a look that passes between folks _who partake regularly_. We know each other. Maybe we secrete a pheromone, or maybe my last puff is still on my breath. Sometimes it’s a discretely worded comment that only another stoner “gets”. Maybe it’s attitudinal. Maybe the whole thing is worthy of further study, but it’s there. The illegal nature of our pastime has forced upon us the need for discretion. We were vacationing in St Martin years ago when we ran into a guy we knew. We hugged, did that European cheek kiss thing, caught up on news from our respective homes, and made plans to meet later that week at a bar. As we walked away, my gf had an epiphany; “hey, I’ll bet he could get you some weed, let’s go back and ask!” I pulled my hand out of my pocket and showed her the bag. The whole thing happened under her nose and she missed it. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162/50 "2017-04-17T12:50:32Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I’d be very surprised, in today’s world, if they’ll issue a boarding pass to someone not physically present, but who knows? This part (issuing a boarding pass to a passenger who’s not physically present) is no problem at all; with online check-in it happens all the time (and also on international flights, and also to countries with visa requirements). As others have noted, the tricky part is dropping the luggage. And here there are two problems: [ol] [li]The OP’s wife not being physically present at the time of luggage drop-off.[/li][li]Luggage drop-off taking place many hours before departure.[/li][/ol] As for problem #1, I would think the easiest way for the OP were if the luggage allowance is generous enough to take the entire luggage on his ticket. In that case the wife would fly without luggage, and the problem would not arise; she could rely entirely on online check-in. As for problem #2, practices vary. Most airlines say on their website that check-in, including luggage drop-off, opens two or three hours before departure. There seems to be flexibility here, though; I have once managed to drop off my luggage around six hours before departure (I was staying at an airport hotel and wanted to get rid of my luggage in the morning, but then head for the city before coming back to the airport in time for departure), and it was accepted. Not something you could rely on, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-checking-in-the-airport/784162.md?page=2)