Business travellers can now side-step Jetstar’s check-in counters at Melbourne Airport with the airline expanding its existing online check-in system to selected international flights from the Victorian capital.
Through the Jetstar website, Melbournians can select their seat, print their own boarding pass, head to the airport and then make a beeline straight for security and passport control if travelling without any checked bags on flights to Bangkok and Phuket.
A spokesperson for the airline told Australian Business Traveller that online check-in would also be extended to other flights and cities “in the near future”, including to airports used by Jetstar overseas.
Where available, online check-in opens 48 hours before the scheduled departure time and closes three hours before the flight – so as a rule, online check-in winds up when the check-in counters start processing passengers at the airport.
Jetstar Australia and New Zealand CEO David Hall said that “about a third of our customers flying from Melbourne to Phuket and Bangkok choose to travel without any checked baggage”, and could now take advantage of the online check-in system.
However, this facility doesn't extend to the domestic legs of international flights, which savvy Qantas Platinum frequent flyers sometimes book in order to make a sneaky visit to the Qantas First Lounge.
You’ll still need to grab your boarding pass from a regular Jetstar check-in desk and collect that all-important 'D sticker' which indicates you're actually a domestic passenger.
Jetstar flies from Melbourne to Bangkok twice-weekly and from Melbourne to Phuket five times a week on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Read our review: Jetstar Boeing 787 business class
Also read: Jetstar carry-on baggage crack down kicks off this week
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
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