If you’re traveling in first class, Emirates will now send someone to your home to check you in at no extra cost. That probably sounds kind of awesome, and kind of like an April Fools’ joke.
Emirates home check-in service for first class travelers
Effective immediately, Emirates first class passengers have the option of being checked in without even leaving their home or hotel room, at no extra cost.
With this service, an agent will visit your home or hotel room in Dubai or Sharjah at a pre-booked time, and complete all check-in formalities. This includes document verification, checking in baggage, and issuing boarding passes. This must be booked at least 24 hours prior to departure, and the formalities can take place up to six hours prior to your flight’s departure.
Then you can use your pre-booked complimentary Emirates chauffeur service to get to the airport at your convenience, at least 90 minutes prior to departure. Once at the airport, you’ll be able to proceed directly to passport control and security, and can then head to the lounge. However, if you have extra baggage you still want to check-in, you can go to a dedicated counter for that.
For what it’s worth, Emirates first introduced home check-in a few years back as a paid service for all passengers. The airline is now rolling this out as a complimentary service for first class passengers.
This is a great concept, but very niche
Emirates is adding yet another feature for first class passengers without taking anything away, and that’s totally awesome. I’m trying to think of the circumstances under which something like this would be useful, though, given that:
- Emirates already offers a chauffeur service, and the chauffeur drops you off at a dedicated premium check-in area with porters, so it’s not like you have to carry your luggage yourself at all
- Most people are pretty last minute packers, and may not want their bags taken away six or more hours prior to departure; for that matter, they may be scrambling last minute to get ready for travel, so may not want to commit to being around at a certain time
- With the existence of online check-in, and travel restrictions largely being eased, it’s not like document verification is a huge hurdle anymore, at least for most
I suppose this feature could be useful if you’re traveling as a large family, or if you have a ton of luggage, to the point that it won’t even fit in a chauffeur drive car. But short of that, I’m not sure what problem this is supposed to address.
Then again, I think it’s important to acknowledge that the local UAE crowd does often appreciate services that the rest of us wouldn’t expect or necessarily find useful. For example, just about every “automated” feature or machine in the UAE still has a human staffing it just in case anyone needs help, so…
Bottom line
Emirates first class passengers can now check-in from the comfort of their home or hotel room in Dubai or Sharjah at no extra cost. Essentially the check-in counter is brought directly to you, from having your boarding pass printed, to having your documents verified, to having your luggage checked.
This is an innovative feature, though I feel like the circumstances where this is useful are quite limited.
Could you see yourself using Emirates’ home check-in?
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