Korean Air to Transform Economy Class Check-In Counters

Korean Air is transforming all of its economy class check-in counters at domestic airports in South Korea to bag drop counters for passengers already checked-in using mobile, web check-in services or airport kiosks.

At Incheon International Airport, 70% of economy class passengers used self check-in in August. As a result, bag drop counters were crowded, causing passengers to wait in long lines during peak hours.

Self-check-in refers to the process of passengers checking-in for a flight, assigning seats and printing out a boarding pass on their own through mobile, web services or airport kiosks.

Mobile and web check-ins are available between 48 hours prior to flight departure (24 hours in case of the U.S.) and an hour before (40 minutes for domestic) the flight.

Airport kiosk check-in is available up to 60 minutes prior to flight time (20 minutes for domestic flights).

As of 13 August, all of the economy class check-in counters at Gimpo International Airport, in both international and domestic terminals, were converted to bag check-in counters for self-check-in passengers. The service will be rolled out at Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 from 1 September 2019.

The family care service counter, used by passengers requiring assistance such as unaccompanied minors, pregnant passengers and so on, as well as first class, prestige class and Morning Calm counters will continue normal operations. The counters for U.S.-bound economy class passengers at Incheon International Airport will also continue normal operations.

In the beginning, Korean Air employees will assist passengers at airport kiosks and operate help desks in each section to assist passengers who are having problems checking-in.

Korean Air has been continuously improving self-check-in services by expanding the scope of its users. For children and infants accompanied by adults, self-check-in became available for international flights in January 2019, and for domestic flights in June 2019. From April 2019, passengers in groups were allowed to check-in through mobile and web services.

Korean Air also plans to introduce a “self-tagging” service by the end of 2019, which will allow passengers to pick seats and register baggage at the same time while checking in at the kiosk. This service is expected to cut down over 30% of check-in time for each passenger. Passengers can simply print out their baggage tags at the kiosk and put them onto their baggage, then drop them at the bag drop counter.

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