Most airlines encourage travelers to check-in online, given that it’s mutually beneficial — it saves time for the traveler, and saves resources for the airline. Well, Lufthansa Group is implementing a new policy that makes it more difficult to check-in online, as flagged by aeroTELEGRAPH, and that strikes me as rather backwards.
Lufthansa will require registration for online check-in
Lufthansa Group has the concept of a Travel ID, whereby customers have an account they can use to log-in across digital platforms belonging to all carriers, including Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines, etc. This is separate from the Miles & More program, as the idea is that it simply creates a unified log-in for digital services across the airlines.
So along those lines, Lufthansa Group is progressively rolling out an initiative whereby customers need to have a Travel ID account in order to check-in online via the website or app.
Lufthansa Group is rolling out this requirement gradually. The Travel ID is required to check-in online as follows:
- From October 20, 2026, departures from the Schengen Area except for departures from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
- From November 2, 2026, departures from the European non-Schengen area, departures from Germany (excluding Frankfurt and Munich), Austria, and Switzerland (excluding Zurich)
- From November 16, 2026, departures from the USA, Canada, and Mexico, as well as from Munich and Zurich
- From November 30, 2026, departures from all other regions, as well as from Frankfurt
There are a limited number of exceptions for the Travel ID requirement. Specifically, you don’t need a Travel ID if you’re a traveler checking in at the airport counter or machine, if you’re traveling on a ticket issued by another airline, or if you’re on a flight operated by another airline with a ticket issued by Lufthansa Group.
I guess I understand the intent behind this, but…
Airlines love data and being able to market to customers. It’s one of the reasons that airlines create such strong incentives to sign-up for their loyalty programs (or in this case, a log-in that allows the airline to market to you). We’ve seen countless airlines roll out free Wi-Fi for those who are loyalty program members, and the logic is easy enough to follow.
However, in this case we’re talking about online check-in, which is something that arguably helps the airline more than it helps the customer. I can understand an airline wanting to add a step for something that entirely benefits the customer (like free Wi-Fi), but doing it for a basic function that saves the airline money? Well, that’s quite the approach to take.
In fairness to Lufthansa, I’m not sure this is actually a bad idea, or will backfire that much. Yes, it’s a minor annoyance, but:
- This will likely be a very compelling reason for people to register for a Lufthansa Group Travel ID
- I doubt many people will avoid online check-in or book away from Lufthansa Group because of this initiative
Now, it’s still rather customer unfriendly, in my opinion, but that’s not exactly the first time we’ve seen something like that in the airline industry…
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group will start requiring passengers to sign-up for a Travel ID in order to check-in online. This is progressively being rolled out through November 30, 2026. Making it more complicated to check-in online seems counterproductive.
At the same time, clearly this is intended to encourage travelers to register for a Travel ID, so that Lufthansa can better track customer data and market to travelers. Usually we see incentives created to encourage this kind of registration, but in the case of Lufthansa Group, the airline is instead threatening to take something away if you don’t register.
What do you make of Lufthansa Group’s new online check-in requirement?
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