Online check-in weirdness....

Trying to check in for my flight from Gatwick to Montego Bay tomorrow.

The system says it is unable to check me in and that I need to do so at the airport tomorrow.
My wife, travelling on the same booking, is able to check in, but I can't. What gives?

I can view my booking but not my seat numbers that I previously selected (I can, however, for my return flight)

Anyone care to explain what's happening here?

[honey lamb]

It could be several things. One is that you might not have entered your name just as it is on your ticket, or else that there is another passenger with the same or similar name on the flight.

Have you tried again? Sometimes it will work a second time

I have entered the name carefully and tried both directly and via 'manage my flight'. I do have a very common surname so I suppose it is possible that there may be someone else with the same first name and surname. Not a problem for the wife as her first name is very uncommon in this country.

I will try a few more times before I turn in as I do not want to lose the seats I reserved some weeks ago (isnt there a 13 hour rule?)

Thanks for the reply.

After thinking I should have used my middle name when booking, I have realised that my middle name is on my passport but not on my booking.

i.e booking name is in the name e.g. David Jones and my passport is in the name e.g. David Robert Jones


Am I likely to have a problem tomorrow as a result? Just didnt occur to me......

No, middle name should make no difference. I have middle names in my passport but never use them when booking and it has never been a problem.

Same happened to me and it was because the booking had not been closed out properly by the reservations team due to unpaid tax against it. Did you make a change to the booking at one time which may have caused a change in tax? If so then VS probably havent charged you for it yet and so you cannot checkin online. That may be the reason - it was for me.

Thanks Mr T.

clayts - no, I have made no changes at all other than reserving seats.

I'm sure I've read on here that there is a random selection of pax trying to do OLCI aren't permitted too for security reasons and you'll have to check in in person. It's completely random who is selected - but a certain % of pax have to be seen in person.

Could it be that?

[honey lamb]

Or your name may be on a "watch" list ):

Seriously, though, that can happen. Some several years ago a cousin of mine here in Ireland (where we have pre-clearance for Immigration into the USA) was denied boarding because he had the same (very common) name and date of birth of a known IRA supporter. It was in the days before ESTA, API etc and he had to wait for 24 hours for clearance before he was allowed to fly. Some V-flyers have also suffered from being on a 'Watch"list and have obtained a (I think) a redress number which enables them to use OLCI which previously was not available to them

Had this on our last flight from MCO to LGW. It was a full flight and they had decided to allocate my family of four one exit row seat and then three behind. Was told this was a real good thing until I realised I was sat next to the door and spent the whole flight sitting at an angle because of the huge lump that sticks out of the bottom of the door.

As HL mentioned, some of us had "watch list" issues. It was some time before VS would admit that it was a watch list problem - initially they tried to claim same name etc.

At that time my partner did OLCI - that effectively reserved both seats. As you go through the check in sequence it first asks if there is anyone else in the party - the second person is refused - but then it gives another chance to check in the first party without the query about other passengers

That is the route that I was advised to use. After suffering that for a number of flights, I finally went through the redress procedure. First time it did not seem to get a result but the second time the US issued a redress number and letter. Now no problems at all (firmly hanging onto a lump of wood)

Strangely the redress classification seems to speed up immigration - a single fingerprint is all that is needed - my partner always seems to have to give a full set. If I go first, it always seems to be a friendly chat with very friendly US immigration :0

Would you believe I go to check in online for my return flight tomorrow and they've taken the system down for maintenance. Grrrr!

Wanted to try and see if I can reserve exit row seats if I check in online... hey ho. Will have to try tomorrow morning first thing.

We apologize for VS's systems to much, sometimes they just feck up, in fact to often. I cannot check in for my flight back from the US tomorrow, I am on no list, my details are correct, I do this every two weeks with no problem, etc. but no online check in - let's sometimes recognize that VS is at fault not the individual or their name et al?

We had reserved our seats, 79H+K, for our return flight when making the original booking 8 months ago.

When trying to complete OLCI at countdown, the system constantly refused to accept us even though I did various connotations of trying to check in.

In the end, as I really wanted the bubble & knew it would be a stacked flight, I rang VA on their US toll free number & was told it was because they'd moved us to 75A+C but just had to check at check in we were both physically able to assist with the doors in the case of emergency.

At the aiport, this proved to be true.

TTFN R-P