alamah

Hi. Does anyone know the actual cut-off time to check in and drop off bags at the airport? I found this page at LATAM website: https://www.latamairlines.com/us/en/...rrival-airport

It says that I must arrive at the airport three hours before an international flight and two hours before a domestic flight. Is that true? I find it very hard to believe. None of the airlines I traveled with before require passengers to go so early.

Eastbay1K

The requirements aren't so much that you are "required" to get there that early, but if you don't, you might not get to the front of the line and have your BP and bags tagged prior to the cutoff.

Note that in most of the LATAM world, you also need to go through exit formalities as well as security prior to getting to the gate. And given the various countries that LATAM serves, with a large number of its passengers needing visas for various destinations (including possibly transit points), the doc checks overall can take longer. Maybe not for you if you've got a US or EU passport, but for the people before and behind you in line.

If I were departing EZE on LATAM in the main cabin, without any status, I'd definitely be there quite early. The line is often crazy.

alamah

Thanks.

The international flights I'll take are MEX-LIM and LIM-CUN. What are MEX and LIM like? Will it be better or worse in LIM which is a LATAM hub?

Eastbay1K

I've not been to MEX on LA since the move to T2, and haven't been landside @ LIM in years. That said, MEX security lines typically aren't bad, and there's no passport control, your chokepoint would be at check-in.

alamah

I contacted LATAM customer service. They insisted that I would have to be at the airport three hours before an international flight and two hours before a domestic one. I guess I need to follow that.

SenSCL

With LA, actual cut-off for international flights is usually 60 minutes before scheduled take-off time and they are extremely strict about it and may not allow you on the flight, if you show up at the desk at -59 minutes.

Having said this, I would say that two hours before the flight should usually be enough at both MEX and LIM. Worse than the airport queues (LIM’s general check-in is cramped and can get quite a zoo, though) is the traffic to get there in both cities. Hence, you may want to factor in some additional time anyway.

alamah

Thank you. Good to know that it's actually 60 min.

HkCaGu

Please read this thread on Tripadvisor (I also contributed): https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ir_Travel.html

Passengers checking in from MCO had been denied when arriving 2-3 hours before departure time. Sorry @SenSCL the 60-min thing is not applicable to outports where counters aren't open all day. In fact, I just replied on a new thread saying that 75 min isn't enough at LIM: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ir_Travel.html

alamah

I took my four flights last year. I arrived at around 2hr before my international flights (from MEX and LIM), and 1.5hr before the domestic flights (from LIM and JUL). I had zero issues.

I don't know how strict LATAM really is when enforcing the 3hr/2hr cut-off time. I was one of the very early passengers for my flight at JUL. Many passengers arrived way after me.

sdsearch

Those times are based on worst cases, including families, people who might have communication troubles, people checking bags, people who don't know how to get a boarding pass, people with disallowed stuff in their luggage, etc, etc, etc.

If you travel frequently carryon-only by yourself and know everything you need to know about boarding passes for that airline and that airport, and know what to take and not take in your luggage, the worst-case timing obviously doesn't apply to you.

In places where you get special access to security lines (CLEAR, PreCheck, etc), things can go even faster. But there are no guarantees of it being faster, that's just the norm.

However, no one ever publishes best-case timing, only worst-case timing.