nacho

We tried something similar:

My youngest had a medical emergency that we were at a hospital at 12:00 (our flight was CPH-PVG at around 18ish), we were absolutely convinced that he was fine (he was seen by 8 doctors and 4 said he was fine and he wasn't) from the symptoms and how he behaves and reacts.

We decided to go as our friends were expecting us and we really want to be there instead of home. So we pushed OLCI until 15:00 - make sure SK knows that we are coming. The hospital released my boy after giving him IV antibiotics (I had to run to the pharmacy to pick up another 2 big bottles) at around 16:00. Then I drove to pick up another 2 kids who were waiting at the school, we got to CPH and bag drop around 1 hour before departure (*A so very little queue). They didn't comment on us being late or anything like that.

My kid was totally fine during the flight and he was fine the whole time - he wasn't in pain and all the blood test showed nothing - that's why we decided to go.

ksu

Total price for four tickets booked now on tonights flight to Charleroi (Dep 20.55) is 1076 DKK (i.e. less than 300 DKK per person). Bags etc are extra. Note that internet purchase of tickets closes 6 hours before departure.

oliver2002

Mid July maybe, but on the day the xmas holidays start?

Bakpapier

I wonder, can you even buy ryanair tickets at the counter? Is there a surcharge?

Jainzar

20� booking fee at airport or call center

Luckily with their app you should get around the following fees:
45� check-in fee at airport p.p.
10� surcharge for the baggage (in addition to the checkeg baggage fee)
Would the boarding card reissue fee of 15� p.p. also apply?

Bakpapier

I think if you book through the call center, then check in using the mobile app, you would only have the 20 euro fee?

JudgeJ

Thank you all for the excellent collective feedback.

What I had completely forgotten about is the load on planes at Christmas time, and the fact that - rebooked for free/cheap or not, there may not be another avaible flight before another few days. That will make me extra careful with planning time.

A last minute Ryanair flight sounds good (I have practiced CRL many times) - thanks for the suggestion ! - but for same reason as above, it could be very expensive, or just sold out. Last 2-3 flights I took on that route were 90+ % full.

So I will persevere with somehow getting there early and try to check bags in advance. Checking them in the morning sounds excellent, didn't know I could do that ! And also, most recent bit of information I found is that there are apparently self service bag drops, for SK flights at CPH. I had never heard of them (never fly SK) but they look like a nice plan of my "get rid of these bags early and quick" to gain time.

Can anyone share experience on using self service bag drops, re:
- how early before flight can I drop bags
- can they be used to print a tag for child stroller/buggy, that I keep with me until plane door ? (usually they add a separate "gate delivery" tag for that) Do I need to queue for the gate delivery tag then ? Even though child and buggy haven't arrived at the airport yet
- will an agent check my bags "physically present" vs. number of tags I print, or can I hope to print the stroller tag without the stroller yet ?

By the time I'm over with this, all the experience (of what worked or not...) will be well worth sharing !!

Thank you again for all the great tips !

J-

MSPeconomist

Not if the OP has a final exam that day. I wouldn't want the distraction of getting to/from the airport and the resulting worry about being late for the exam if something goes wrong.

nacho

The only stroller that can do gate check is the umbrella stroller - the primitive ones. We used to have a Chicco stroller Ct 0.5 - that one was too big to do gate check in both CPH and ARN (was able to argue our way through at CPH a couple of times). You can get a tag for your stroller and you can put it on (they will ask you to put it at the odd size place), so if you need it after getting the tag, you could just bring it with you. There are stroller in CPH that you can borrow.

When you drop off your bags - you just need to show your boarding pass and the other pax don't have to show up.

I have done morning bag drop for a SK flight later in the day and did evening bag drop for a flight the morning after.

tgj1974

Also worth noting, that this is a fairly new route and load is fairly low according to B�rsen, so there may be certain risks for either higher load or no route at all in 5 months from now.

http://borsen.dk/nyheder/virksomhede...stockholm.html

JudgeJ

Dear all,

Here is a long overdue on my previous queries - hopefully they can be of help. (family life leaves too little time for FT !!)

- Regards missed/late check-in there is no "fixed fee" with SAS that can rebook you on the next available flight (unlike some other airlines such as EI, FR) and "it depends" on the situation. A helpful agent told me that in general you "may" get rebooked on the next available flight for a fee, starting at ~300 DKK per person if in the same fare class, more expensive if rebooked into higher fare class.

- Early check-in is from 22 hours before flight (if operated by SAS) and you can drop your tagged bags from that time too. As nacho said before, not all passengers need to be there.

- Stroller "destination" (bar code) tag can also be printed directly from self-service kiosk like for regular suitcases and be taken away, then attached to stroller later. "Gate delivery" tag must be obtained from an agent when dropping the (destination tagged) stroller. Again as said by nacho (many thanks ^), you can keep your tagged strolled until boarding, or check it with other baggage and borrow a stroller from airport facilities up to boarding gate.

Oh, and... we did manage to check-in on time that day, and all got home for the holidays per initial plan - after a little marathon sprint to the airport

Cheers,
J-

tgj1974

Thanks for getting back with an update :-)