checking in in lima
 

I'm flying Lan in business departing at 9am LIM-MIA on a Saturday in August. What time do I need to turn up at the airport? Lan claims 6am for everyone but I was wondering if flying in biz means I have a bit more latitude to get through customs fast....?

I find LIM to be a very slow-moving airport. All the formalities seem to take a lot of time. I'd allow myself the full three hours just to be safe. (I fully admit that I'm overly cautious about such things.)

Not sure promptly at 6 is necessary. Couple of flights departing then so line up at Biz checkin might have a few people in front of you (15 minutes) , the security line goes fast (10 minutes), immigration can line up or not (20 minutes), walking time (5 minutes), build in extra time (15 minutes), time to learn how to use the juice machine at Sumaq (1 minute), waiting time for WiFi to connect at Sumaq (3 hours). So 6am seems a bit early, 7am seems pretty comfortable.

How busy is the airport in the 10 PM - 12 AM time range? TIA.

At that time it is very busy for domestic flights. Less so for international.

That's great news, as we are doing a relatively tight domestic to international
connection. Thanks so much.

2 hours is plenty. The lounges and shopping at LIM are nothing special, and I've never taken more than 45 minutes to go from check-in to the gates.

I agree, it's generally not that long to get from check-in to the gates. I generally didn't wait long at the business/elite check-in, and never more than a few minutes at security, but lines at passport control can be quite long - I don't think it took ever more than 20 minutes either, but it does feel a lot longer.
As other poster, I agree the two lounges in Lima are not particularly great, though their (rather well stocked) bars can be a very nice place to have some last pisco sours before flying !

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

I have one further question which is that I just can't find online what time check-in would close before a LAN flight / more generally in Lima airport. I realise that this might not be the appropriate forum to ask, but does anyone know?

Thanks again!

LAN has kind of two checkin deadlines. If you haven't checked in three hours before departure, legally they might be able to deny boarding without having to compensate if flight is oversold... (http://www.lan.com/es_pe/sitio_perso...as-frecuentes/). On the other hand checkin desks tend to close about 60 (?) minutes before departure.

I wouldn't arrive less than 90 minutes before departure because of immigration and security lines...

I'd check in 24 hours in advance online (LAN is 48 for some routes) and get a seat and avoid any of these potential problems. They have separate lines for those dropping off bags and those needing a boarding pass anyways, so you'll save some time.

I just did CUZ-LIM, LIM-PTY (two different tickets), and only had a 3 hour cushion between flights. Obviously I was ready to cancel and rearrange things if I had a delay, but I easily had 2 hours in the lounge.

I agree, specially for business class passengers. I've arrive 2 hours prior, even at peak hours (8pm-11pm) and I could even spare a while at the vip lounge.

Some assistance regarding this - but slightly different.

I'm flying IAD-BOG-LIM-CUZ, the IAD-BOG-LIM is all on AV the flight into LIM arrives just about 1 a.m. on Saturday and the flight to CUZ departs at 9:50 a.m. later that morning.

We've opted to get a hotel room and catch some sleep. (we only have carry-on luggage)

Will we already be checked in for our flight to CUZ, or will we have to do all of this again at the LIM airport? We are flying business class if that makes a difference in timing and such.

The flight itinerary shows AV from IAD-BOG then Trans American Airlines TACA from BOG-LIM-CUZ. My guess is since it's TACA BOG-LIM-CUZ we should be checked all the way through and will just have to re-enter through security.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

It doesn't really matter at all. Like most airlines around the world, OLCI is available, and you can just check in on your mobile phone for the flight to CUZ from the comfort of your hotel room.

That being said, you should be able to get all the boarding passes at IAD or at least at BOG.

FWIW, I recently had a Spirit flight departing LIM around 11:50 p.m. where I checked in around 9:30 without much problem, but YMMV. They said to head to immigration sooner rather than later, so I did. I think it depends on the number of other flights, as they were set up for a much longer line than they actually had at the time, indicating that other times could have much more in backups. I think there's an exit tax or extra stuff their own people have to do (as there was a booth where a guy examined passports early on in the line), but something like that could slow things down even if it doesn't apply to you.