ChaShaoBao

I was confirming a flight with United, and the agent reminded me that I should check in for my flight at least two hours prior to departure, even though the first leg of my trip is domestic (connecting to an international flight). I just wonder, why would you need to be there earlier than the other people checking in for the same flight who are not connecting to an international flight?

Trivial, I know, but I wonder about these things...

moondog

that 2-hour deal was designed to give the airlines sufficient padding to account for inefficient operations. in general, they want you to be at the gate 45 minutes prior to departure, assume the security could take as long as 30 minutes and check-in 45.

personally, i've always found that getting to the airport 45 minutes before my flight always works at sfo, pvg, and pek because i do that stuff a lot. but, i always use an elite line of some sort which limits the check-in variable to around 10 minutes and i don't check baggage.

i recently sent a friend from pdx to pvg and he was denied at the 57 minute mark in spite of the fact that the airport was empty. therefore, i wouldn't challenge the 60 minute threshold unless i was flying a route that i knew well (like sfo-pvg).

the bottom line is that you can add the minutes yourself and determine an appropriate airport time.

53flyer

If your first flight is domestic connecting to international, then domestic check-in requirements should apply. Agents don't always know what they are talking about.

Aviatrix

The first leg of most of my long-haul trips is a commuter flight (F50 or F70) from NWI, probably one of the smallest international airports in the UK. I've had agents trying to tell me that I need to check in at 4.20 am for the 6.20 am flight to AMS. They don't even unlock the terminal building until 5 am!

Jenbel

Yes - here I've always taken it as a rule of thumb that that is when check-in opens, and so long as i know the minimum check-in time (40 mins), then I can turn up when I like.. I had a problem when I checked in early at HUY (airport I'd never been to, so I didn't know how long it would take to drive) - check-in open, but security wasn't

meiji

When I flew LHR->YVR last year on Air Canada (first and probably last time), I was asked to check in THREE hours early. Due to early start it took approximately 15 minutes from being deposited at the airport to finishing check-in which left over three hours of sitting around idly (traffic was good to us en route).

USA_flyer

That's pretty standard, I have the same for a flight to DTW on tuesday with BA. To be fair, sometimes Heathrow can be bedlam, for peace of mind I tend to stick to what they request.

Aviatrix

Airlines operating long-haul flights from LHR will normally advise you to be there three hours before departure because on a full flight that's the time when they need to start processing their passengers to make sure people aren't still queuing five minutes before departure. Passengers who turn up 90 minutes before departure will just join the end of the same queue... but if everybody turned up 90 minutes before departure there wouldn't be time to get everybody checked in.

WHBM

To go back to the original question, as the time was quoted by a travel agent it just shows that, as in so many other areas, the "expert advice" given by travel agents is in fact a load of rubbish.

I get particularly hacked off by being given "latest" check-in times when I know that the airline in question will not have even opened the check-in at that time, as described in examples by others here.

USA_flyer

I think it's possible they give that advice to all Brits just in case they are beer swilling morons who sit in a pub near the airport for some 'dutch courage' and then turn up too late to check in.

747sardine

I thought the 2 hours was to give you plenty of duty free shopping time

swag

I always assumed it was to give extra time to resolve any issues with your travel documentation.

ChaShaoBao

My first flight leaves JFK for SFO at 8:00am, so two hours is technically doable, but I think it would be overkill since I'm traveling on an e-ticket. In my experience, check in is very quick.

The person who gave me the advice was a United phone agent, when I was reserving my seats. I'm pretty sure she was at an Indian call center, but I don't blame her for giving me that advice because I've heard it before. Besides, I think she was the friendliest agent I've ever talked to on the phone. ^

Analise

It depends on the lines at security!

WHBM

Well, the above discussion highlighted early morning flights when the airport hasn't even woken up to process passengers at the so-called cut off time.

And at such a time any pub in Britain near an airport will certainly be closed and therefore unavailable to sit in.

Yet more inaccurate travel advice from the travel agency trade, I suspect