And in this video,

we're going to be talking about how to check in

at the airport in English.

But before we get started with that,

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Let's get started.

(upbeat music)

Whenever you fly somewhere, you need to check in

at the check-in counter of the airport.

Unless you have your own private jet,

in which case this video may not be that useful to you.

This video is for people who fly

on normal airplanes, not private.

We're going to talk about the things that you may be asked

by the person at the check-in counter,

and the things that you can say to respond

to those questions.

And if you have some questions,

we'll talk about how to ask those questions as well.

Let's first talk about what you say

when you first get to the counter,

when you walk up to the check-in counter,

maybe you have your luggage,

and you've been in line for 20 minutes.

There are people in front of you,

and the person there says next, next.

Well, okay, then I know I need to walk forward.

I step up to the counter.

What are they going to ask me?

Well, there are really three possible things here,

and we're going to go through them one by one,

but I want to mention one thing first.

What should we call this person?

If they have a name tag and it says Kathy,

should I say hi, Kathy or Bob, hey, Bob, should we do that?

Probably not, probably not.

If it's a man, you're probably going to say, sir, sir.

Hello, hello, good afternoon sir, maybe,

and that person will call you sir if you're a man,

but what if you're a lady?

Well, if you're a lady,

they might call you miss and you can call them miss.

Now, if they're a little bit older, maybe middle-aged,

you might say ma'am, ma'am.

If you have to get their attention, excuse me, sir.

Excuse me, ma'am.

You can use sir, ma'am, and miss,

and they will use the same ones for you

based on your gender.

The first one we're going to talk about

is a more general question, kind of general,

and this might be more common for small airports

that don't have a lot of traffic.

And your question or the thing you're coming up

to the counter for could be this or that or that.

And so they might say, how can I help you

or how may I help you?

Again, that's only if they're not sure.

They might say that.

Most of the time,

they'll know exactly why you're there,

because you have your bag

and they won't ask you that question,

how may I help you?

But if they do ask this, how can you answer it?

Let's say, for example, we're at a small airport.

We walk up to the check-in counter,

and the person at the counter,

the lady says, good afternoon, good afternoon,

how are you today?

Maybe that's not common either,

but you might say, oh, I'm great.

I'm wonderful.

Thank you.

How about you?

Oh, I'm good too.

Or I'm fantastic or whatever.

Now, that's not so common in this situation,

but sometimes the answer would be to explain

where you're going.

And we might say, I have a flight.

I have a flight.

So for example, I have a flight to Beijing at 7:30.

I have a flight to Beijing at 7:30.

Now later, we're going to talk about

how to mention connecting flight.

So, we'll talk about that in a couple of minutes.

A much more common greeting in this check-in situation

is for this person at the counter to assume why I'm here.

I'm here because I want to check in.

And there are a lot of people in line,

and we're all here for the same reason.

So probably they won't say, how can I help you?

Probably they'll say, passport please, passport please.

Maybe, hello, passport please.

And I might say, hi, here you go.

And that's it.

They might say passport and itinerary,

passport and itinerary, please.

This is becoming less common.

This means, do you have a printed paper

that says your flight number

and where you're going and the time on it, do you have that?

So in a friendly way they might say,

hi there, passport please.

And I'll say, okay, here you are, here you are.

And I hand them my passport, or sometimes, here you go.

And then they will say the details of the flight.

And all I have to do is confirm it.

So they'll say the 9:15 flight to Miami, right?

Or it's the 9:15 flight to Miami, correct?

So they'll say right or correct.

Then I just need to say, that's right or yep.

Or yes, that's correct.

I just need to confirm it,

because as soon as they put in my information, my name,

it pops up on their computer screen.

So that's easy.

That's the easiest thing.

The other one that's really common is the question,

where are you flying today?

Or where are you flying?

So they might say,

good afternoon, where are you flying today?

So they're assuming that I'm flying somewhere.

And then my answer has to be where I'm flying.

I don't just hand them my passport.

And they confirm with me the details.

They ask and I say, yes, I'm on, I'm on

the 6:30 flight to London, I'm on.

Or maybe I could say, the 6:30 flight to Berlin,

the 6:30 flight to Berlin,

without saying I'm on or anything.

Just the 6:30 flight to Berlin.

Then if I want to say the stop between here,

wherever here is and Berlin,

I'll say, connecting the 6:30 flight to Berlin,

connecting in London, connecting in London.

Sometimes they'll say connecting at,

if they say the airport,

connecting at London Heathrow, okay,

that's the airport name.

So, we'll use at if it's the airport,

and in if we just want to say the city where we are stopping

between here and our destination.

Now, you might've heard layover, layover.

What's the difference between a layover and a connection.

Very simple.

We use connection when we're just talking about

what that middle stop is,

connecting in London.

We say layover when we focus on the time we spend waiting

at the connection.

I had a six hour layover in London, a six hour layover.

That's how long I spent waiting for my next flight.

The one from London to Berlin to my final destination.

Sometimes you can say I'm flying to, I'm flying to Berlin.

But then it's a little harder to say the time.

So, I prefer to say the, time, flight, to.

Simple, easy.

Well, now we have to talk about luggage,

and it gets a little complicated here.

So let's just say the terms.

First, we have a carry-on,

a carry-on is a bag that I carry on.

Oh, that's easy.

That's an easy one.

A carry-on or a carry-on bag.

Then I have a personal item.

What's the difference between a personal item

and a carry-on.

Usually a carry-on is a little larger,

and it might have roller wheels,

and a personal item might be a backpack or a purse

or something like that.

The other type is a checked bag, a checked bag.

This is the one that goes under the plane.

So they'll ask the question.

Are you checking any bags?

And we'll talk about that in a moment,

but that's what they'll call it.

Now, you might've heard, okay, bags, luggage.

What's the difference between bags and luggage.

Luggage is a general word for this kind of thing.

My luggage, my luggage was lost.

Bags is a bit more specific,

and we can add an S.

I'm checking two bags, for example,

but I can't say I'm checking two luggage.

When you say my luggage,

we're just talking about generally all of the things

that you're taking with you to wherever you're going.

So bags, you can count, luggage, you can not.

You can't say two luggage.

No, incorrect.

Can't say that.

Bags, bags, bags, bags.

So here are the questions.

Are you checking any bags?

Are you checking any bags?

How many bags are you checking?

And how many bags will you be checking?

So, you'll hear these common questions

and there might be some other variations,

but basically it's those.

Now, if it's, are you checking any bags?

Should you just say yes.

Not really.

If you say yes,

then they have to say how many.

So it's better if you answer this question with the number,

are you checking any bags?

Just one or two bags.

If you're not, you don't have to say no.

You can just say just, you can just say just, yeah,

you can just say just,

just a personal item and a carry-on bag.

How about questions you might ask,

you might say, can I have two carry-ons, two carry-ons?

Maybe I have two roller bags,

and I want to bring both of them onto the plane.

The answer is probably no, no, you can't.

But you could ask if you have a question,

can I have tWo carry-ons, or can I have two personal items?

Or maybe you want to know about costs.

Maybe if you have two roller bags,

and they're very big and you need to check them,

you want to know the price that you have to pay.

Often, for international flights to other countries,

you get one checked bag for free.

And then if there's a second, you have to pay.

So, you might say, how much is a second checked bag

or maybe how much does a second checked bag cost?

That's a little more complicated.

How much does a second checked bag costs?

Now, once we have that figured out

how many bags we're checking, the next question will be

or the next request will be to please put your bag

up on the scale or please put your bag on the scale.

All right.

Yeah

Put it on the scale.

Next, you have to weigh it.

Now, something might happen here.

If your bag is too heavy, then the lady or the man here,

the person checking you in might say,

oh, your bag is actually overweight.

Your bag is overweight.

Then they'll explain probably.