MrAndy1369

Let's say you have a flight at 4pm. How long in advance will DL allow you to check your luggage?

Thanks.

TTT

In the past it has been 4 hours. I don't know if it varies for intl/dom though.

MrAndy1369

Am flying domestic, from DCA. First class. Maybe that'll help specificize the policy?

Dhamal

I was once dropped of early in Atl about 6 hrs.. they checkd my bags and printed my boarding pass no problem..

theacendahole

6 hours is what I have been told by Delta in the past. However at JFK they wouldnt allow me to check in at 12am for a 6am flight.

photojojo

I could have swore it was 4 hours from previous experiences, but at LAX the past two weeks I was told and allowed to check bags within 6 hours.

kmk5397

6 hours is the earliest you can check a bag. The computer inhibits
check-in if more than 6 hours.

CarolDisney1

Of course there's a risk. You know "hope" Delta keeps up with it for six hours and doesn't set it aside someplace and "forget" it LOL!

pentop

This is EXACTLY what has happened to me when I've checked early in the past. Since the flight isn't for a while, they put it in a holding area and tend to forget about it until after your flight has left. You eventually get it, but it is likely to be on a later flight. I don't recommend it.

sushibum

Yeah, I was also only let check in as early as 4 hours before the flight. however, once they let me put my suitcases in storage (in some side room) without charging me, for the extra hour or two, so that i could walk around the airport without all my luggage. and then when it was 4 hours before the flight, they let me do check in.

performancefitness

The good - way more convenient: I just check my mother in on a mco-bkk route, her bags 2 hours early. I had a MCO-FRA route that I checked in at the same time 7.5 hours early. The ticket agent said he couldn't print a boarding pass until 6 hours before, but he did allow me to check my bags in (didn't know if being PM helps though).

The bad - delayed luggage: I knew I shouldn't have done it. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should..." I am sitting here in my ski village without any of my cold gear or clothes; 2 days later - I am still waiting. My bags didn't leave ATL until the next day - 1 day after I left. The bags went to Stuttgart with Lufthansa, then to FRA... they wanted to send it to Leipzig and drive it down because that airport was closer but the snows delayed flights, so now DL-FRA is driving it up to me (I hope) - a 2+hr drive from Frankfurt to Winterberg.

Definitely recommend AmEx premium baggage delay protection plan. First time in 6 years that I have actually used it and spent more than my limit to get the necessities of this trip!