The basic check-in process consists of identifying the passenger booking and adding supplementary information (e.g. baggage details, remarks etc.). Then the agent may accept the passenger for travel on the flight thus producing a larger, more thorough computer record for the passenger history. This is an ongoing process whereby at each stage of the departure process this record is updated further to layer information for use by the Carrier/Airport.

Although the basics of check-in are always the same, the situations may be diverse (see document Airline Departure Process for explanations of the numerous scenarios).

The AS check-in process appears extremely effortless and swift. To check-in a passenger the check-in agent or user selects the correct flight and immediately a screen that is separated into 3 sections appears for that flight. These 3 sections are:

> A PNL section.
> A seat number section which has a list of all seats on the flight so the user can see which seats are occupied and by whom and which seats are still empty.
> The seat plan section.

The agent has 2 options for passenger name selection to begin the check-in process:

The agent can choose a name by entering the first (or first few) letters of the passenger name and the cursor will go alphabetically to the area in the PNL where this name is and it will appear highlighted. The agent then clicks the mouse or presses enter and the screen for passenger data appears.
· The agent can also select the passenger name by browsing the PNL using the mouse or arrow control keys and entering on the selected name to give the passenger data screen.

This passenger data screen will show any details that are brought over with the PNL e.g. any SSR information, oncarraige details, passenger title, FQTV numbers. The user then adds baggage information and seat selection for boarding card and baggage tags.
At this stage the user can also add or alter the other information e.g. Add FQTV details or SSR information (WCHR, UMNR, INAD etc.), change an incorrect passenger title or even add special meal info from a drop down list.Then the baggage details are added and as these figures are filled in, the baggage labels are instantly produced and can be altered very easily by just overwriting the initial baggage number and weight. In Split airport there is 100% baggage screening in operation so after each bag is tagged it must go through a screening device before it will be accepted for loading. This screening is done in the check-in area and seems to be the slowest part of the whole process. Because of this 100% screening, it means that there are no prompts being sent to the check-in agent to ask the regulatory Security questions of the passenger. This prompt is crucial for safety and security at airports where 100% screening is unavailable.

Within the main check-in screen, a unique feature is the picture of the aircraft (different depending on aircraft type), used as a seat plan. This makes for a very simplified seat selection process as the user can see at a glance where all emergency exits, galleys, toilets, bay splits (for weight and balance use) are situated. Once the seat has been assigned to the passenger and the boarding card has been printed the “now” occupied seat changes colour and is removed from the seat available list. This is very important as visually the user can see which seats are vacant or occupied and also they cannot check a second passenger into an already occupied seat. Since it takes a few seconds between seat selection and the boarding pass being printed the AS system has a significant function whereby the system removes the chosen seat instantly to avoid another check-in agent selecting the same seat during these few seconds and it also shows this seat changing to yet another colour as the boarding pass is being printed to avoid possible seating problems. From the aircraft planning stage, the seat plan will show which seats are infant preferred seats or WCHR preferred seats to assist the check-in agent.