Minimum Check-in time on Copa at Lima
 

My hotel is insisting that I need to be at LIM at 4.00am for my 7.00am flight. I said an hour is fine but they told me I will miss my flight.

Does anyone have any first hand experience?

No way do you need to be AT the airport then. Last time I flew that flight (Apr 15) I left my hotel in Miraflores at 4:30 am. Got to LIM about 5 am and had no problems.

I've flown CM out of Lima dozens of times, and typically shoot for 2 hrs. It could be less, but I'd be a little nervous with 1 hour. I've seen the line at security leading out of the doors and down to the food court.

Thanks for that advice. I've asked for my taxi to pick me up at 4.30am. I didn't realize there was an immigration exit process too.

Just a quick update. We left my hotel in Miraflores at 4.25. It's now 5.10 and I'm at the gate.

Taxi drive up to 140 km/h. 1 person ahead of me at checkin, nobody ahead of me at security or immigration. The airport is busy but it seems to be mainly domestic passengers at this time of day.

This info is very useful to me as I will take the same flight in Nov. Looks like it took 45 minutes for the whole process. How long did taxi take to get to the airport?

Also, when did the boarding begin for this flight?

I've shown up about 1hr to 1hr30 before departure with no problem.

Because my hotel got me in a panic I decided to get a taxi at 4.30am. Took 25 minutes from Miraflores to get tho the airport. The only traffic was the short delay while the inbound cars had their docs checked at the security checkpoint. Took about 2 extra minutes.

When you walk in the building turn left for the Copa check-in desks, they are at the far end. There were three desks, check-in, we check-in and priority. The priority guy waved me over even though there was only one person ahead at the other two desks. Security and immigration took a couple of minutes each.

Once inside I bought what I thought was a bargain breakfast and then realized that the prices are all in USD in the terminal so I had just paid $22 USD for breakfast.

My Uber app showed plenty of cars available at that time of morning.

Boarding began about 45 minutes before departure.

Based on my experience that would be adequate. The domestic part of the terminal looked really busy though with long lines.

Thanks for a detailed reply. Based on this information, leaving hotel in Miraflores at 5AM should be fine for 7AM flight then.

I think so but I'd just be guessing. i don't know how much busier the roads got after I arrived.