Previously, only passengers of China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) and Uni Air (立榮航空) could check in their luggage at Taipei Main Station.
Starting yesterday, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) , Cathay Dragon (國泰港龍) and five AirAsia Group airlines also started in-town check-in services, TIAC said,.
It’s quite convenient. The only kicker is you have to do it at least 3 hours before your scheduled departure, which means a lot of waiting around at the airport.
i’m totally fine with that. i like to arrive 3 hours before usually. and if you check in in town are you not free to do what you want to before going to the airport? they do print boarding passes ect i’m assuming?
Yes, they do everything needed so can go directly to immigration at airport.
I guess it’s a good idea if you are a tourist and want to hang out at Taipei train station for awhile or live around the station. But for me it’s not good 1) because it adds extra stop to the trip 2) there is nothing within 5 minutes walk of the in town check-in counter except a Starbucks 3) I don’t hang around outside immigration at the airport and don’t need to hang out at Taipei train station. I do use airport check-in sometimes in Hong Kong and then shop and eat at the IFC mall above the station.
Check in in Taipei sucks, you need to check in excessively early at the airport as well.
I know it’s 45 minutes prior to flight in hk, but in tayuan it seems to be 55 or 60 minutes. Considering the close the gate 15 minutes prior to departure, they should close the checking 45 minutes prior to departure as 30 minutes is more than enough time to get to the gate from check in counters
yea last time i used the airport mrt i was thinking how bloody long it took to get out. i can see that theres maybe not that much benefit to it, but i will try it anyway. if i can skip checking in at the airport that might be a nice bonus, i always feel stressed about that. one time i checked in online and printed the boarding pass but i still had to go through some hassle before boarding so it wasn’t really worth it.