Korean Air Online Check-in and Boarding Pass

Korean Air online check-in opens 48 hours before departure. For international flights departing from or arriving in the United States and Canada, the airline states a later opening, 24 hours before departure, and a closing time of 1 hour before departure.

These windows are the ones published by the airline; the exact time that applies to your flight appears on your booking, and that is the one that counts. Airport counter check-in generally closes well before departure, so plan ahead and don't count on the last few minutes. Once checked in online, you can change or cancel your check-in up until the check-in deadline.

Korean Air also offers an automatic check-in service that you sign up for in advance: the airline states that enrolling checks the passenger in automatically 24 hours before the flight's departure. This service requires the booking to be fully paid.

Check-in is done from the online check-in section of the airline's official website or through the Korean Air mobile app, using the booking reference and passenger name, or by logging into a Skypass account. There you choose or confirm your seat, subject to availability: seats near emergency exits cannot be reserved in advance and are assigned only to passengers over 15 years old who are physically able and capable of helping during an evacuation.

Not every airport is covered. Online check-in is offered on domestic Korean flights, at every airport in Japan except Kobe, at a list of cities in China (Hong Kong, Taipei, Macau, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Taichung), at every airport in Europe and the Americas, in Sydney, Auckland and Brisbane, in Dubai, as well as in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Denpasar (Bali), Phuket, Chiang Mai, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The list covered by automatic check-in is somewhat shorter.

The airline also notes that, in certain cases, online check-in is not possible, without detailing the list. In that case, you must go through the counter.

Once check-in is confirmed, the boarding pass is available in mobile format (app, or a file added to your phone's wallet) and can also be printed. With an online boarding pass and no bag to check, you can head straight to the departures area.

Even if a paper boarding pass has already been issued to you at the counter, Korean Air lets you generate a mobile version through its website or app, subject to eligibility and availability at the departure airport. One important point: for flights departing from Korea, generating a new boarding pass online cancels the original paper one. Always board with the most recent boarding pass.

If the aircraft changes, your seat is reassigned, or a connecting flight's boarding pass wasn't issued all at once, staff at the counter or gate will reissue the document.

Checking in online doesn't mean you can skip dropping off your bags. Korean Air directs passengers with baggage to the automatic bag drop, where available, or to a dedicated drop counter; baggage must be dropped off before the check-in deadline that applies to your flight.

At a standard counter, the process remains the same: have your passport and required documents ready, go to the counter, check in and hand over your baggage. For domestic Korean flights, the airline requires passengers to present an original identity document or proof of identity to board, for domestic flights.

On international flights, check the list of required travel documents published by the airline and the requirements of the destination country before you leave: a missing document will block boarding even with a valid boarding pass. Baggage allowances depend on your fare, cabin and route; they are shown on your ticket.

A few situations come up often, and most can be resolved before you even reach the airport:

• Online check-in rejects your booking: check that the ticket is paid and issued, that your departure airport is on the covered list, then try again; otherwise, the counter will take over.
• Codeshare flight: if the flight is operated by another airline, check-in is done on the website of the carrier actually operating the flight.
• Group or family: passengers on the same booking normally check in together, which helps keep seats next to each other.
• Unsuitable seat: as long as check-in isn't closed, you can change it or cancel your check-in and start again.
• Assistance, wheelchair, special baggage: report it at booking; Korean Air inspects the wheelchair during the check-in process to note any pre-existing damage.

If you're then flying with another SkyTeam airline, the rules differ: see for example the deadlines for Air France, Delta Air Lines, China Eastern Airlines or Aeroméxico; for a domestic Korean flight operated by Asiana Airlines, the process is different from the one described here. Travelers who prefer not to track the opening of check-in themselves can hand it over to iBoardingPass, which checks in as soon as check-in opens and sends the boarding pass by email.