Lion Air Online Check-In: Schedules, App and Boarding Pass

On international flights, Lion Air check-in opens 2 hours before departure and closes 45 minutes before departure. This closing time is strict: once the counter is closed, the ticket risks being treated as a no show, with the penalties set out in the fare conditions.

On domestic Indonesian flights and on regional routes operated by the group's airlines, counters can close earlier depending on the airport. At busy hubs such as Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, Denpasar or Bangkok Don Mueang, plan to be at the counter well ahead of the cutoff: check the exact time shown on your booking or itinerary.

Lion Air's online check-in used to run through the checkin.lionair.co.id page. That page now redirects to the app: all check-in features are only available via the BookCabin app since November 15. In practice, if you want to check in remotely, it is the mobile app you need to use, not a standard web form.

The process in the app follows the same logic as before: open the online check-in menu, enter the booking reference (PNR, six capital letters) and the passenger's surname, confirm that your baggage complies with safety rules (dangerous or non-dangerous items), then select the flight and the passenger(s) concerned.

According to the group's public information, mobile check-in and city check-in are not open to everyone. Those still excluded include:

• group bookings of more than ten passengers on a single ticket;
• passengers requiring special assistance at the airport (pregnant women, unaccompanied minors, children under 12 travelling alone, wheelchair users, stretcher cases);
• infants under two years old without an assigned seat.

In these cases, check-in must be done at the airport counter.

Once check-in is complete, the boarding pass is issued electronically and stored in the app. Passengers who already hold a boarding pass and have no checked baggage can head straight to the boarding gate without stopping at a counter to have it reprinted.

Seat selection takes place at the time of check-in, subject to availability: the cabin map displayed lets you aim for a window, aisle or emergency exit row. The airline's website also offers a seat assignment service within manage booking.

On the documents side, the rule is the same across all channels: present the E-Ticket itinerary receipt along with an official government-issued photo ID (passport, ID card or Indonesian KTP) to enter the airport and for check-in. Keep a printed copy of your itinerary, as it is requested as soon as you enter the terminal. For an international flight, your passport and, where applicable, the visa or entry authorisation for the destination country are checked at the counter before the boarding pass is issued.

If the airline changes your flight time after you have checked in, the boarding pass already issued is no longer valid on its own: check the latest information on the website and report again to the departure terminal counter.

The Lion Air group offers city check-in at its ticket offices (Lion Air Tower in Jakarta Harmoni, Surabaya, Malang, Makassar, Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Banda Aceh, Pontianak, Solo, Batam, among others). It is aimed primarily at travellers with no checked baggage and remains open until 4 hours before departure. It can be carried out by a third party, provided they hold a valid ID for the passenger as well as their own.

Under this option, the allowed cabin baggage is one personal item per passenger, 7 kg maximum, with dimensions of 40 x 30 x 20 cm for jet aircraft, 35 x 30 x 20 cm for propeller aircraft cm.

If you are travelling with checked baggage, checking in remotely does not exempt you from visiting a counter: the bag must be dropped off at the departure terminal desk, even if the boarding pass has already been issued. An additional baggage allowance (prepaid baggage) can be purchased in advance through the airline's manage booking section.

After checking in, arrive at the boarding lounge 40 minutes before the departure time shown on the boarding pass, and confirm the gate number with staff according to your flight number and schedule.

A few situations come up often among Lion Air and Thai Lion Air passengers.

• The app cannot find the booking: check that the name entered exactly matches the one on the booking and that the PNR has six characters. For a ticket bought through an agency, searching by name, flight number and flight date remains possible in the airline's manage booking section.
• A ticket issued under another code within the group (JT, IW, ID, OD, SL, IU) may need to be handled through the operating airline's channel.
• Check-in fails due to a document or assistance requirement: head to the counter, where an agent will carry out the check manually.
• You arrive too late: Lion Air changes and refunds are subject to penalties that increase closer to departure, and in the event of a no show, the airline's terms and conditions only provide for a refund of airport taxes. It is better to call the airline's customer service before departure time than to show up afterwards.
• Spelling mistake on the name: name changes are not permitted under the airline's terms and conditions, so you should contact the reservations department as soon as possible.

Travellers who would rather not handle this themselves can hand their check-in over to iBoardingPass, which carries it out as soon as the airline opens check-in and sends the boarding pass by email.