Originally Posted by
Globaliser
I think that the point is that HarryHolden68 never wants to be in that position even if everything goes wrong, and therefore wants to plan to arrive at the airport perhaps three, four or more hours before the flight. I can understand why someone who is very risk-averse may want to plan in a way that means that even if things go sequentially pear-shaped, they will still have a very generous wait at the airport. For such a passenger, an inability to check-in bags many hours before the flight won't work. (We used to see many people sitting around in the T5 check-in area waiting for bag drop to open, probably arising in many cases from a similar level of risk aversion.)
But again, where is the logic? The point of having lots of time in hand allows a few things to go wrong and you're still OK. OK in T5 means 45 minutes if checking in a bag, in LCY it's 20 minutes. Being risk adverse means you don't want to chance that deadline, but you can't control all risks let alone all Eastender teenagers, so you add a buffer, or even an excessive buffer. You can still arrive silly early, there are two coffee shops in LCY that one can repair to if necessary, but for an airport like LCY it would be bonkers to encourage people to turn up even earlier than 2 hours. It's only got a single longhaul service per day, and not many services over 500 miles. What's more if HBO - which is overwhelming majority of LCY passengers - one can proceed through LCY any time the same day.