Delta Air Lines Scraps Check-In for Users of Its iPhone App
Photo Credit: Customers who have Delta's newest iPhone app likely will no longer have to check in for their flights. Pictured is a Delta A321. Delta Air Lines
Skift Take
This is a good development for passengers, who must wonder why they still have to check in for flights in 2017. But for many airlines, check-in still serves a valuable purpose.
Seeking to make the pre-flying process more seamless, Delta Air Lines is automatically checking in some customers who download the airline's iPhone app.
The news got some buzz Thursday on social media and on airline-focused blogs, but auto check-in is not new. Continental Airlines introduced it about a decade ago, with the airline calculating it no longer made sense to ask passengers to confirm they planned to take flights they had already booked.
And through its Innovation Hub, Lufthansa Group has created a system called Airlinecheckins.com, a platform that automatically checks in customers on more than 100 airlines, including many that do not partner with Lufthansa. To participate, customers must share their complete itinerary with the site.
At least at first, Delta's auto check-in feature will be limited to customers who have the most updated version of its iPhone app, so
