Emirates yesterday shared that its Check-in At Home service was used by more than 2,500 passengers last month. The airline’s popular service enables passengers departing from Dubai to complete their check-in process in the comfort of their home thus bypassing check-in at Dubai International Airport and making the journey much smoother.
Three years in the making
While Etihad Airways launched Home Check-in Service few months ago, Emirates’ Check-in At Home is not a service which was introduced recently. In fact, it was launched back in April 2018. The Dubai-based carrier was keen to make the journey swifter and smoother by having passengers check-in from their home, hotel, or office and have their baggage carried to the airport before their trip.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has given these sorts of initiatives greater value. Travellers are now wanting to minimize touchpoints and avoid unexpected hassle at the airport more than ever amid all the added procedures in place since the pandemic started.
Increased use
With passenger activity picking up this summer and more travellers taking to the skies, more and more people are making use of this service. Emirates states that is mostly groups of four to five people that are utilizing the system. Most popular destinations were Amman, Jordan; Beirut, Lebanon and Malé, Maldives.
Thursdays and the Eid long weekend were particularly busy with up to 130 home check-ins completed and 150 pieces of baggage delivered to the airport a day across Dubai. Moreover, there have been around 400 repeated users of home check-in, highlighting the satisfaction of the service.
Altogether, the seamlessness of the process makes it a popular service. It covers several requirements before a passenger has left the airport.
Emirates, in a statement, shared:
During the safe and convenient home check-in process, customer-oriented agents check in travellers for their flights, issue boarding passes, weigh and tag their sanitised baggage and ensure these are delivered to the airport and loaded onto the aircraft. Each piece of baggage is disinfected with a long-lasting protective coating that lasts for up to 72 hours.
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Passengers can book their home check-in service on emirates.com up to 24 hours before their flight and receive the service up to 8 hours before scheduled departure time.
Passengers also have the option to book fast-track marhaba services to help ‘whisk’ them through airport immigration for an even more contactless on ground experience. In addition, they can also book pre-travel COVID-19 testing. A qualified medical professional performs the swab test ahead of the home check-in process, and results are shared with them digitally. All passengers who test negative for COVID-19 receive a medical certificate within 24 to 48 hours to meet the entry guidelines of their destination.
Emirates also has a ‘Land and Leave Service’ which enables passengers to proceed directly home while staff will collect their baggage, clear it through customs, sanitize the baggage, and then deliver it directly to their doorstep.
Emirates’ home check-in service is delivered by DUBZ, dnata’s baggage technology and logistics company. The service starts from 209 AED ($57) plus VAT.
Altogether, Emirates will be happy to see that its passengers are making use of its various services. The airline has been promoting its modern check-in options heavily over the last year. In October 2020, it rolled out self-service check-in at its Dubai hub. Furthermore, all of the carrier’s self-check-in screens are now fully touchless, which reduces points of potential virus transmission at the airport. All in all, the airline has all angles covered with its check-in systems.
Meanwhile, Emirates recently launched a new account-based payment system called ‘Emirates Pay’. The airline has also reopened on its dedicated First Class lounge at Dubai International Airport and has launched an all-new airport service at Dubai International Airport to assist passengers more better. The carrier has launched flights to Miami, Florida making it the airline’s 12th destination in the United States.
Featured image by Emirates
What do you think of Emirates’ Check-in At Home service? Have you used the service before? Let me know in the comments section below.
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