Check in hours in advance

[ctrunfree]

Hi people

I've got two flights next month using airlines and airports I haven't used before.

The first is CMB to CCU on Sri Lankan Airlines.The flight departs at 8.25am. I gather SL Airlines have a general recommendation to arrive 3 hrs before departure. I'm a bit concerned however with what I've read about facilities in Colombo airport. My partner can't stand for long and I understand there isn't a lot of seating in the terminal. I've also read reports that it might be difficult to check in luggage until 2 hours before the flight. What do people who use the airport frequently think we should do?

The second is CCU to BKK on Indigo.
According to their website "IndiGo recommends that Customers report for Check-in at least 4 hours prior to the departure of the scheduled flight."
Seriously? Does everyone who flies with them actually do this? What takes so long?

 

[Archipelago]

The first is CMB to CCU on Sri Lankan Airlines.The flight departs at 8.25am. I gather SL Airlines have a general recommendation to arrive 3 hrs before departure. I'm a bit concerned however with what I've read about facilities in Colombo airport. My partner can't stand for long and I understand there isn't a lot of seating in the terminal. I've also read reports that it might be difficult to check in luggage until 2 hours before the flight. What do people who use the airport frequently think we should do?

Not a regular user, but I did come back from CMB last week.

We had a mid-week, 11.10am departure. Everyone told us 3 hours prior for check in except our office manager in Colombo who said 2 hours was plenty
We hedged our bets and arrived at the airport at 08.50

In the end it took between 30-40 minutes from the taxi through to the departure gates.

Note - First entry to airport adjacent to the taxi drop off kerb

1. Full xray of luggage and body scanner, wand, 5 minutes queue

2. Proceed through a long hall with all of the banks and money changers to the inner check in hall, 5 minutes

3. Find which rows your airline is departing from, and proceed through another full baggage xray and body scanner/wand just adjacent to the check in counters, 5 minutes

4. Check in took <10 minutes

5. Immigration queue, this took the longest for the reason that we could see a staff meeting of more than half the officers through a window down the end. Once that finished, another 8 counters opened up and we were through. Total 10 minutes

Once through immigration, head up the escalators inside the main departures area, you have the biggest duty free stores around you, and a coffee bean/tea leaf coffee shop opposite. I was travelling with an elderly gentleman, so we decided to park ourselves at the coffee shop for an hour until it was time to go to gate.

I noted plenty of seating spread out around the gate areas.

Our gate was a leisurely 5-10 minute stroll with a toilet stop and money change en route.

GATES - they have yet ANOTHER security check (this is where they finally nabbed my bottle of water, was wondering how I managed to get it that far
Once inside the individual departure gate - plenty of seating. Our A320 flight to SIN was full, and there were enough seats for us prior to boarding

 

[ctrunfree]

Not a regular user, but I did come back from CMB last week.

We had a mid-week, 11.10am departure. Everyone told us 3 hours prior for check in except our office manager in Colombo who said 2 hours was plenty
We hedged our bets and arrived at the airport at 08.50

In the end it took between 30-40 minutes from the taxi through to the departure gates.

Note - First entry to airport adjacent to the taxi drop off kerb

1. Full xray of luggage and body scanner, wand, 5 minutes queue

2. Proceed through a long hall with all of the banks and money changers to the inner check in hall, 5 minutes

3. Find which rows your airline is departing from, and proceed through another full baggage xray and body scanner/wand just adjacent to the check in counters, 5 minutes

4. Check in took <10 minutes

5. Immigration queue, this took the longest for the reason that we could see a staff meeting of more than half the officers through a window down the end. Once that finished, another 8 counters opened up and we were through. Total 10 minutes

Once through immigration, head up the escalators inside the main departures area, you have the biggest duty free stores around you, and a coffee bean/tea leaf coffee shop opposite. I was travelling with an elderly gentleman, so we decided to park ourselves at the coffee shop for an hour until it was time to go to gate.

I noted plenty of seating spread out around the gate areas.

Our gate was a leisurely 5-10 minute stroll with a toilet stop and money change en route.

GATES - they have yet ANOTHER security check (this is where they finally nabbed my bottle of water, was wondering how I managed to get it that far
Once inside the individual departure gate - plenty of seating. Our A320 flight to SIN was full, and there were enough seats for us prior to boarding

Thanks Archipelago, exactly the info I was needing. I'm thinking the long lead in times are set so that people who haven't allowed for the usual traffic snarls still make their flight.

 

[Archipelago]

Thanks Archipelago, exactly the info I was needing. I'm thinking the long lead in times are set so that people who haven't allowed for the usual traffic snarls still make their flight.

For CMB, your flight is at 08.25 with the flag carrier, & traffic won't be bad earlier that morning so I'd suggest as long as you're at the airport 2 hours + prior to departure, you're fine

For Kolkata - no idea, but expect it to be way busier? Hopefully you'll get some anecdotal evidence

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The only potential downside is that if a flight is overbooked and everyone else has turned up 4 hours before departure you could be the one bumped Granted that's probably a risk I'd take, but worth bearing in mind if you are travelling in a busy period.

 

[Mattg]

I arrived at CMB ~3.5 hours early last time I flew out of there, and couldn't make it through the first security checkpoint to get to the check-in area until 3 hours before my flight departed.

2-3 hours early should be fine.

 

[JeeJee]

At CCU, Indigo doesn’t engage too many checkin counters, rather funnel heaps of flights through a nimber of counters. This is what takes time and hence the recommendation for 4 hrs. CCU has lots of sitting options and food too... An early checkin wouldn’t hurt!