Checking in online with Lufthansa

Online check-in with Lufthansa opens 30 hours before departure, on the Lufthansa website or in the Lufthansa app. From there you pick your seat and get your boarding pass, to keep on your phone or print at home.

This guide covers when the window opens and when it closes, what you need to open your booking, how the process runs, and what is left to do once you reach the airport.

Online check-in opens 30 hours before departure, on the Lufthansa website and in the Lufthansa app. From that point you can choose a seat and issue your own boarding pass.

The closing time depends on your departure airport. Lufthansa has a page where you enter your flight details and get the deadline that applies to you.

Whatever that deadline is, two things have to be done before it passes. You must have your boarding pass, and you have to have checked in your baggage. That is true even if you already checked in online, on your phone or automatically.

Lufthansa online check-in starts by identifying your booking, and there are two things to have ready:

• your booking reference or your ticket number;

• the passenger's first name and last name, as they appear on the booking.

Enter those and select Confirm to open the booking. If you have a Lufthansa profile, you can log in instead and pick the booking from the ones already saved there.

If you booked through a travel agency or tour operator

A ticket bought through an agency, an online travel agency or a tour operator does not always come with the Lufthansa booking reference attached, and without it the ordinary route will not open your booking.

Lufthansa has a second way in for exactly that case. Alongside the usual form there is a Tour operator travel tab, which identifies the booking from the flight itself rather than from a reference number. It asks for:

• the flight number and the departure date;

• the place of departure and the final destination;

• the passenger's first name and last name;

• the tour operator booking number, which is optional.

Because the booking number is optional there, the flight details alone are enough to get in. If you would rather use the ordinary route, the Lufthansa booking reference is worth asking your agency for before you travel.

You can check in online through the Lufthansa website or the Lufthansa app.

How to check in online with Lufthansa:

1. Go to the Lufthansa website, or open the Lufthansa app.

2. Enter your booking reference or ticket number with the passenger's first and last name, then select Confirm.

3. Choose your seat.

4. Issue your boarding pass, and decide whether to print it or have it sent to your phone.

Once check-in is done, what is left at the airport comes down to your bags. With a carry-on only, in most cases you can go straight to security and then to your gate. With a bag to check, there is one stop to make first.

Where to keep your boarding pass

At the end of online check-in you decide how you want the boarding pass. You can print it at home, or have it sent to your phone. Once it is on your phone, the Lufthansa app and your phone's wallet both hold it, and both work without a connection, which is worth setting up before you leave.

There is one case where the pass does not arrive. On a small number of flights a mobile boarding pass cannot be issued because of official regulations, and you get a confirmation of check-in instead. Your check-in still stands, and the boarding pass is handed to you at the Lufthansa counter.

Dropping off a checked bag

A checked bag can go to a Lufthansa counter. At airports that have a self-service bag drop kiosk, you have that option too, as long as you already have your boarding pass. It makes no difference whether the pass came to your phone, arrived online or was issued at the counter.

Lufthansa also runs a late-night check-in at some airports, which takes your baggage the evening before the flight and leaves you nothing to carry on the day.

Check-in done and boarding pass in hand, a flight can still come apart. A delay, a cancellation or an overbooked flight can still get in the way of your plans.

Flights to and from the European Union are covered by EC 261, because Lufthansa is a European airline. If the airline is responsible for the disruption, you may be owed up to $650 per passenger, depending on how far you were due to fly. Both directions count: a flight leaving an airport in the EU, and a flight into the EU from the United States.

On the U.S. side the rules are set by the Department of Transportation, and our guide to US air passenger rights sets out what they cover.

To find out what your own flight may be worth, start with our Lufthansa compensation page.

Keeping an eye on your flight

Check-in is behind you and the flight is still hours away. If anything changes, Lufthansa gets word to you by email, by text message or through the Lufthansa app, so it is worth checking that the contact details saved under My bookings are the ones you actually use.

For another way to keep an eye on your flight, the free AirHelp app can track it and check whether a delay, cancellation or denied boarding may entitle you to compensation.

With the AirHelp app you can:

• receive real-time notifications about delays, cancellations, gate changes and baggage claim;

• scan your boarding pass to add your flight quickly;

• share your flight status with whoever is picking you up;

• find out automatically when you are owed up to $650 in compensation;

• start your claim straight from the app, with no paperwork.

The app is free and available on iOS and Android.