RichardAtCT

Hi Team BA.

I am flying LHR-DUB on BA0832 in Club Europe (first time traveling to Dublin AND St Patrick's Day Celebrations, should be fun!).

What time do I/should I aim to arrive at the airport for this flight? Will be checking a bag..

If it is the usual 3 hours before, not sure I'll even bother going to sleep the night before.. :/

Using public transport, what if any, is my best option for getting to the airport that time of they day?

R

mikeyfly

I’d arrive at LHR about 1.15hrs before departure. Half hour or so in the lounge and off to gate

HighlandPark

I'd aim to be there at about 5am. If you're flying on a Saturday or Sunday morning and travelling from London the night tube is an option. Otherwise pretty much the only option from central London is the N9 night bus - which is actually pretty efficient and very cheap (£1.50 on an oyster or contactless card).

Ldnn1

What is this 'usual 3 hours' you speak of? The only reason to arrive 3 hours before any flight is if you want to maximise your lounge time.

For an 0625 flight with a bag, your cutoff is 45mins. Aiming to arrive at checkin 0515-0530 would be fine.

That's too early for the Tube unless it's a Saturday/Sunday. Where are you coming from in London and what day?

armouredant

Stay at a hotel on Bath Road.

deboyzoned

OP hasn’t indicated where he/she is coming from. Doh?

EsherFlyer

The lounges (and most of the airport) doesn't open until 5am. I'd aim for 05:15, into lounge for a half-hour or so, then down to gate.

rossmacd

3 hours before? What a waste of time.

Turn up 1hr 10mins before and you'll have more than enough time.

dddc

Just to be sure, the 45 mins is the time you need to get to security and have your boarding pass scanned by isn't it, for conformance? Not be at the check in desk 45 mins before.

dodgeflyer

Bag drop 45min, conformance 35min. Personally I’d show up an hour before at that time. Assuming you’d use public transport, I’d just make sure there’s the buffer of one train.

NWIFlyer

For checking luggage, you need to do so 45 minutes before flight departure.

There is then conformance, which means being at security 35 minutes before departure - it’s a separate issue.

If the OP can tell us roughly where they’ll be staying we’ll be able to give much better advice on transport options to T5.

corporate-wage-slave

Conformance is 35 minutes, and that's the scan point before security. So if you did OLCI, are HBO then turning up at T5 for a DUB flight just 40 minutes before departure is fine and not even much of a rush, they are unlikely to have started boarding by the time you get to the gate even on this minima. You need to be checked in by 45 minutes on shorthaul excluding LCY (20 minutes allegedly). So they are the two relevant timings, only the 35 minute one applies if OLCI. If with checked luggage and OLCI then it's still 35 minutes however you need to have got your bag into the system by 35 minutes and then got to the security gates at T5. If you haven't done OLCI it's still one time limit, 45 minutes regardless. What isn't often mentioned is that HAL have greatly improved the process with the large number of automated gates, so getting through conformance is a lot easier than it used to be when this was being done by HAL agents in person.

And within that context and allowing 15 minutes for (e.g.) a HEX or bus failure, I wouldn't waste one's beauty sleep so I agree with Ross...

For this flight I would be timing to arrive at LHR T5 approx 05:25 hrs to give me plenty of leeway and probably two coffees in the lounge / Room.

For the purpose of the record, the only exceptions for the 45 minute check-in limit are the following locaitons:

• Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan (Linate and Malpensa) and Palma = 1 hour (PMI and MXP are overkill in winter, the rest are sensible)
• LCY = 20 minutes but I'd add 5 minutes here at least.
• MAN, CDG and ORY are 45 minutes (50 minutes for OpenSkies) but I'd add 10 minutes to these locations. Ditto at least 15 minutes for ski airports on ski Saturdays (etc), maybe longer.
• Longhaul is 60 minutes, with the the exception of Jeddah which due to passport control is 90 minutes.
• JFK T7 is allegedly needing extra time for security during the temporary building works, but I don't actually believe that, it's the same work being shuffled around the same agents.
• For those with HBO and OLCI you can shave a bit off this, but not much.

Ldnn1

So it's technically possible to drop bags at say T-38?

corporate-wage-slave

Not even technically now, thanks to the self checkin machines. perfectly plausible. Yes it is possible, whether it is wise is another matter, however in reality baggage gets to aircraft quicker than humans.

bisonrav

For the sake of completeness, worth pointing out you can get caught out at passport control at some airports if you shave things too close or dally in the lounge. Malta is one. It can take 30 mins or more to get through because of the higher levels of checking they do now.