pseudoswede

I remember something from a few years ago. My family and I were staying at the Rest and Fly at ARN the evening prior to flying back to the US. In order to wear out the kids, we walked all the way from the hotel (in T3) to the SAS check-in desks in T5.

I inquired if the ARN-ORD flight was oversold. The check-in agent also asked if we wanted to check-in for our flight; she also said we could also check-in our bags. This would've been about 14 hours before departure.

With that ammo in mind, I was wondering if I could do the following...

We are most likely booking a room at the Radisson Blu Arlandia for the evening prior to our ARN-EWR flight back to the US this July. We will be arriving from the Arlanda Express. We want to check-in our checked bags (and get boarding passes) that evening, then take the shuttle (with our carry-ons) to the hotel. That way, we wouldn't have to schlep the checked bags around as much, and we could also wake up a little later and go directly to security.

Is that situation still possible at ARN? What time do the check-in desks close (on a Sunday evening)?

Thanks in advance.

Edited to add: this is thread #6999 in the SK forum.

oliver2002

You can check bags for next days flights in T5, I've done that to ORD a few times. Make sure you checkin online and complete all the APIS, then you can even do it at the kiosk and just hand the bag drop your luggage.

The only place that doesn't accept evening luggage check in ARN is the domestic terminal, they don't have storage in the luggage center. Thru check from international arriving at T5 for next days SK domestic is OK, they just store it overnight in T5 and lug it over in the morning.

pseudoswede

Thanks!

I may not have internet access (nor access to a printer) that Sunday prior to arriving at ARN (might be doing touristy things Stockholm, might be on a train on my way to Stockholm, might be driving to Stockholm). So long as I arrive when the check-in counters are open, it shouldn't be a problem, right?

I can't imagine T5 being incredibly busy on a Sunday night in July.

oliver2002

You can fill in all the APIS stuff in advance, I assume moving to Amadeus Altea has only improved the system. ARN desks should be open till about 10pm, even in summer, but I wouldn't push it that far, try to be there around 8pm.

jth

T5 is actually rather deserted after around 7.30pm, especially the SAS checkin area, as there arent a whole lot of late eveneing departures. Actually the last regular SK flight out of T5 is the 20.20 to CPH. Then there are a few KF flights later, which i believe is handled by SK staff. So I would go there before 8 at least.

pseudoswede

Yup. If I recall from my situation in the OP, it was sometime between 7-8pm.

pseudoswede

We should arrive at ARN by 7:45pm via SJ (which probably means 8:30pm ). Directly to the SK check-in desks at T5, dinner at SkyCity, then a night at the Park Inn.

pseudoswede

I wasn't too far off. The SJ train was 20 minutes behind schedule.

We walked all the way over to the T5 check-in desks, approached one of the three severely bored TAs, and we were checked-in very quickly. We were able to sleep in longer than usual at the hotel, take the shuttle, and proceed directly to security with plenty of time to spare.

This will be our SOP from now on. So very convenient. Although, finding a better hotel than the Park Inn would be nice.

gnaget

At CPH I was going to do this when I arrived from NRT and then continuing the next day after a stay at the Hilton overnight. I went up to the *G counter after exiting customs (about 20 meters on the right) and the lady checked me in and tagged the bag but advised dropping it the next day. The issue is security, i.e. pilferage when it's there overnight.

nacho

It depends on where you are going and when is your connecting flight. Mr. Nacho had to fight pretty hard to get our bag dropped the night before - even though on LH page saying that you can check your bags in the night before.

Once I did it with LX and the check-in agent kept telling us that the bag could not make the flight - we thought it's a good idea since we got insurance covers baggage delay. Of course the bag made the flight and arrived on-time - it's LX.

pseudoswede

(Sorry for this necrobump, but it really is the most appropriate thread title.)

Now with all of the chaos at ARN, does anyone still think this is possible? If so, how late are the ticket counters open now?

We initially were going to take an overnight bus to ARN, arriving around 4am, and I'm pretty sure we won't be allowed into T5 until 7:20am to check-in for our ARN-ORD flight. I've now pondered maybe taking a late afternoon bus the day before in order to do early check-in of our bags to avoid one additional potential headache, stay at a hotel, then simply try to clear security at T-3 hours.

GUWonder

The airport has people restricting check-in area access to the those who can show they have a flight within a specified time period of their arrival at the airport area. Prior-day access isn’t to be granted, but maybe they will miss it or stop checking during some point in the evening.

ffay005

Isn't ARN rather quiet in the evening? I would guess the goons aren't restricting entry in the evenings as there is no reason to, and it costs money, too.

pseudoswede

Looks like the last bank of T5 flights go out by 9:50pm (to ADD)--except for an 11pm flight to GOT. I wonder if the security guards go away around 6:30pm? If anyone has better intel, I'd love to know!

GUWonder

If you need in, there is the refundable ticket approach for any time of your choosing. Check-in not required for the refundable tickets. SK fares booked on major US OTA sites for ARN-OSL and ARN-CPH are refundable within 24 hours of booking.

I would say they would be unnecessarily restricting access if they did it beyond 5-7pm, but Swedavia may have its own idea about how to use people brought in for this purpose.

ARN quiets down a lot in the evening, but I’ve also had days where the SK*G lounge was busy at 8pm and the fast track security line at 7-7:30pm would take me 10-15 minutes before I could get airside and on my way this quarter and even at times last.

If I’m there around the time of the last flight of the evening for OSL or the ET flight, it’s a relatively bad travel night but at least the security screening checkpoint and terminal check-in area wouldn’t have a chance to be a big mess. I would assume that at 9:15pm-10pm on at least some nights that SAS would still have at least one staffed check-in counter open for handling ARN-OSL and yet Swedavia no real volume of travelers to still try to justify restricting check-in hall access to 3 hours or whatever before flight time.