Pretty sure you'll have to sign in at any major/legacy airline. At those airlines, however, it is counted as duty time.

It's not babysitting, its keeping people accountable for being on time, and an early alert for the company to call a reserve in the event of a no show.

I'm not saying we need the 24 hour-2 hour check in a Mesa(I'm actually very opposed since they want to use it as a way to change your trip) but checking in (in an attendance "format") is not useless.