Virgin online checkin at Manchester

[donaldsgirl]

Has anyone used the onlne checkin. It looks simple and means you only take your bags to the drop point.

Is it worth it, I mean surely they still have to check your passport etc, does it just mean you get your seat garenteed earlier?

Just wondering wether to do this or not

[AlecK]

We always check in on line from Manchester. If you don't you will have to use one of the new check in kiosks that they have installed and then go to bag drop. You can print your boarding cards and it is very unlikey (but not impossible) that your seats will be changed after OLCI :)

[mer1axh]

i tried it once for Manchester and within 5 mins of opening got the message all the onlines checkins were allocated and had to wait till Manchester , maybe this is something to take into mind!

[tweenie123]

We always do it too and haven't had any problems so far.

[Midnight Storm]

Saved us no time what so ever last July, checked in and joined a 40min queue to drop the bags and have the passport checked - hardly seemed worth the effort, no difference to me but save them scanning each passport for the US authorities

Colin

[disneytracy]

did it last year and waltzed up to the bag drop off, no problems

[Debbie2]

I have not tried it as our seats are arranged for us due to DS special needs.

[Vikki]

We have always done it, and there's never been a queue at the bag drop off. It's very convenient :yes:

[donaldsgirl]

Thanks for all the replys, very helpful.

[jak]

I think you still have to get to bag drop early to encounter no queue (or possibly get there really late - but I wouldn't dare try that! :blush:). For instance, we went to bag drop at 7am for the 10.25 Manchester -Orlando flight.

The previous time we arrived at 7.30, but still only had to wait about 10-15 minutes.

[JaneyS]

It depends if you book the flights with Virgin or if they are part of a packet from an agent. If the latter, as we were, you can only check in online so many hours before (might have been 24?) and when we did there were no seats left to choose from. However, Virgin still keep a percentage of their seats free anyway so that they can seat family groups together, and it is still worth filling in the on-line form to save having to input the information at the airport. When you get there you will have been allocated a seat anyway and ours were quite nice ones both there and back so no problems. In fact, I'm glad we didn't waste time checking our luggage in at DTD on the return leg - we didn't leave the Animal Kingdom until gone 1pm and we would still have got the same seats anyway!

[PoohBearsMum]

It depends if you book the flights with Virgin or if they are part of a packet from an agent. If the latter, as we were, you can only check in online so many hours before (might have been 24?) and when we did there were no seats left to choose from. However, Virgin still keep a percentage of their seats free anyway so that they can seat family groups together, and it is still worth filling in the on-line form to save having to input the information at the airport. When you get there you will have been allocated a seat anyway and ours were quite nice ones both there and back so no problems. In fact, I'm glad we didn't waste time checking our luggage in at DTD on the return leg - we didn't leave the Animal Kingdom until gone 1pm and we would still have got the same seats anyway!

I disagree with you about check-in at DTD, we will always use it and think it is fabulous. We took our packed luggage straight from our room to the car to the check-in where you could park right next to it. We got there at 9 on our departure morning and there was absolutely no queue. We got rid of our bags and got our boarding cards and didn't have to worry about them again until we got to Manchester. We didn't have to worry about getting bell services at the Poly to store our bags until we wanted to leave and have to go back to the hotel later to get them, or leave them unattended in the car at Epcot. We had loads of time to get to our 10.30 character breakfast at Epcot and enjoyed the very last minute of the parks.

When we got back to MCO we just dropped the car in the Dollar garage and strolled unencumbered to Departures, a blessing with 2 under-fours in tow and only had to queue for security, it was well worth doing.