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What is the point of checking in online before you get to the airport? The point of checking in, in general, is to confirm you are there. It shouldn’t be possible to check in, in absentia.

Maybe if they’d have picked a different term for it, it would make more sense to me. Use RSVP or something.

The companies that are getting it right are the grocery stores, when you order for pickup. When they send us the notice that the order is ready, we can click a button to let them know we are on our way. Then, once we are there, we can click a button to check in and let them know we are physically there.

We tried once to check-in as we were getting close to the store. But it actually declined us, because they noticed the pickup spots were empty. They must have had some cameras.

And most of the stores nowadays make you indicate which parking spot you are in. You can’t check in without being there, because you don’t know which spots are going to be open.

Anyway, I dislike the airlines use the term “check-in” for “let us know you’re still planning on flying with us soon”. Maybe RSVP isn’t a good term either, because it really is just “print your boarding pass now” or if you’re going with Southwest it’s “is your trigger finger faster than the rest of the people on this flight”.

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