Online Check-in

Online Check-in#

Online check-in lets your passengers confirm — a few days before their flight — that they have read your pre-flight information and are ready to fly. Instead of finding out on flight day that a passenger data is incomplete or that someone will not show up, you get a clear overview of who is ready well in advance.

Check-in is done per booking: the contact person checks in for the whole group. Once a booking is checked in, the passenger can no longer change names or weights — exactly the same behaviour as when you mark a flight as ready.

Two kinds of check-in. This “online check-in” is a passenger self-service step that happens days before the flight. It is not the same as the on-site signature check-in the pilot or crew does on flight day. Both can be used together.

Feature Location#

Navigate to Settings > UP (Passengers App) and open the Check-in section.

Choosing a Check-in Mode#

The check-in behaviour is controlled by a single tiered setting. Pick the tier that matches how you want to work:

The remaining settings below only apply to the PDF + online check-in tier, except for the Check-in text, which is also used by the PDF check-in tier.

Days Before Flight#

Set how many days before the flight the check-in window opens. Passengers cannot check in earlier than this.

• Slider range: 1 to 14 days (default 3).
• The window opens on flight date − days before and stays open right up to the flight, including while the flight is ready.

Example: with the default of 3 days, a passenger flying on Saturday can check in from Wednesday onwards.

Notification Channel#

Choose how passengers are invited to check in once their window opens:

A notification channel is mandatory for online check-in — when you switch to the PDF + online check-in tier the channel defaults to Email. Every invitation contains the passenger’s personal UP link ({{ booking_up_url }}) so they can check in with a single tap.

Invitations are sent automatically once a day at 10:00 (Europe/Brussels). Each booking is invited exactly once: if a run is missed, a flight is created inside the window, or a booking is confirmed late, it is simply picked up on the next daily run. See When invitations are sent below.

Check-in Text#

This is the pre-flight information your passengers must read and acknowledge before they can complete their check-in. The same text is also printed on the paper signature sheet.

• Written once, in your own operating language, using the rich-text editor.
• Supports Markdown formatting (headings, bold, lists).
• Comes pre-loaded with a default text based on the mandatory passenger briefing items from the EASA balloon regulation (BOP.BAS.115). You can shorten, extend or completely rewrite it.
• Remember to press Save after editing.

Keep the text focused on what a passenger needs to know before arriving — clothing, health, and what to expect at landing. Detailed safety instructions (such as the landing demonstration) are still given in person by the pilot on flight day.

Tip: Because the text lives in your operator settings, you manage it directly here — there is no need to log into the UP app as an administrator.

When Invitations Are Sent#

The daily job at 10:00 (Europe/Brussels) looks at every flight that is scheduled or ready and whose check-in window is open, and sends an invitation to every confirmed booking that has not yet been invited and has not yet checked in.

If you enable online check-in and want to invite the bookings on an already-open flight straight away — without waiting for the next 10:00 run — you can send the invitation manually from the flight’s booking list (see Following Up on Check-ins).

Following Up on Check-ins#

Once online check-in is enabled you get check-in visibility throughout the admin app.

Flight List#

The passengers column shows an extra check-in counter next to the confirmed count — for example 6/8 checked in of the confirmed bookings — so you can scan a whole day at a glance.

Flight Card#

The flight card shows a check-in badge alongside the existing Added / Invited / Confirmed counters:

• Green when every confirmed booking has checked in.
• Orange when one or more are still missing.

Flight Detail — Bookings#

Each booking in the flight’s booking list shows a check-in icon:

• A green checked-in icon once the contact person has checked in (hover to see the exact date and time).
• A grey pending icon while the window is open but the booking has not checked in yet.
• No icon before the window opens.

From this list you can also send the check-in invitation manually to a booking that has not been invited yet — handy right after you enable the feature.

Marking a Flight as Ready#

You can move a flight to ready even if not everyone has checked in — check-in stays available for both scheduled and ready flights as long as the window is open. The check-in badge makes it easy to see who is still outstanding before you finalise your flight plan.

Passenger List PDF#

When online check-in is enabled, the passenger list (manifest) PDF gains a narrow CI column that shows a check mark for every booking that has checked in online, next to the existing Child / Assistance / Transport columns.

The paper check-in signature sheet prints your check-in text followed by the acknowledgement statement — “I have read and understood the above information” — above the signature area. By signing on this sheet, passengers who did not check in online confirm exactly the same statement that online-checked-in passengers already ticked in the UP app.

See Also#

• Online Check-in for Passengers — what your passengers experience in the UP app.
• UP Settings — other UP (Passengers App) settings.
• Email Templates — create the check-in invitation email template.