Nothing is worse than the queues at check in during the morning rush. Everyone is tired from being up early, some are still half drunk from the night before, kids are screaming – it’s bedlam. How about checking your bag in the night before?
This could be very handy for people who are staying at airport hotels as it will allow much more time for sleep. Anyone living near the airport will also be able to take advantage of it, not to mention families with children and lots of bags. So who does it?
Aer Lingus ‘Evening Before’ Check In
Aer Lingus introduced this service back in 2013 and now allows this for certain morning flights departing from Dublin and Cork. As of 2022, you are eligible if your flight departs between 05:30 and 08:00 in Dublin and 06:00 and 08:00 in Cork.
The page on the Aer Lingus web site states – “Each passenger needs to present themselves to check in and drop off bags but if you are travelling with immediate family, one member of the family can check in and drop bags for the group the evening before. Passports/ID cards are required for all passengers travelling, and must be presented the evening before. Kiosk Bag Drop is also available for all passengers availing of this service.”
Passengers can check in the bags between 16:00 and 19:45 in Dublin the evening before, which I think this is very convenient indeed. In Cork, the hours are slightly different at 16:30 to 19:30 the evening before.
Night Bag Drop at British Airways, easyJet and TUI
British Airways offer the service at London Heathrow Terminal 5 and London Gatwick. You can check your bag in between 18:00 and 21:00 the night before, for departures up to 13:00 the following day. It is also available in Edinburgh between 16:00 and 19:00 for flights before midday the next day.
easyJet let you do this at four airports on their network. At London Gatwick, it’s available from 19:00 to 22:00 for flights departing before 08:00 the following day. At Bristol and Berlin, you can leave bags between 18:00 and 21:00 for flights departing before 8:30am in Bristol and 9:30am at Berlin. Edinburgh has it too, from 16:00 to 21:00 for services leaving before midday the next day.
Passengers using TUI will be able to do the same at Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester. The details are on their website here, with the hours differing slightly depending on the airport.
Anywhere Else?
A quick search on Google shows that Jet2 offer what they call Twilight Check-in. On all flights departing the UK before 12 midday, you can check your bags in between 4:30pm and 9:00pm the day before. Airports include Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle.
At Berlin Brandenburg Airport, you can do this for easyJet as already mentioned, Eurowings (18:00 to 20:00 for all flights the next day) and Lufthansa (17:00 to 19:30 for flights up to 23 hours in advance). Very handy, especially for the ones offering it for all flights.
There are even more options at Frankfurt Airport. Austrian Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Brussels Airlines, Condor, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, Eurowings, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS and SWISS all offer it. You can see the details such as the times here.
The service used to be offered across the network by Ryanair (which is where I first used it) but it seems to be only in Edinburgh now, from 17:00 to 21:00 for flights departing before 08:00 the next day. Thomas Cook also appear to no longer offer it in 2022.
Overall Thoughts
Checking in a bag the night before is certainly a huge time saver. Airports are usually very busy in the morning, so it is something you should consider if you have an early flight scheduled.
I’ve used the service myself and arriving at the airport with carry-on baggage only and heading straight for security screening is lovely. Even better is having nothing to carry a all, so there’s also that to consider. It must be a godsend for those with multiple small children!
Have you used night before check-in to dump your hold baggage? What do you think of it? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Incheon airport in Seoul offers day before bag check in their downtown, “CALT” building – you can check in and go through immigration in advance there as well. It was a great way to not have to deal with my bags the day before I was headed out on a work trip, and would be similarly great if you wanted to check in before wandering around the city or another area before flying out, instead of having to return to your hotel.
I think the closest I ever came to downtown airport check in is when I checked in at the train station in HKG. I know Royal Jordanian used to have/has downtown check in too. Nice to know regarding Incheon airport in Seoul. I’ll have to try to go through there sometime so I can give it a try. Totally agree that it would be nice to do that the day before, and agree on leaving day too. Thanks for the comment!
At Gatwick Airport, the following airlines offer day-before check in:
BA, Virgin, easyJet, Thomas Cook, Thomson Airways and Germania. Thomas Cook and Germania charge £5 for this.
That is excellent information – thanks very much for this! It is a lot more airlines than I thought. Charging money for it though is a bit on the nose. Thanks again!
Great. This will give the airport workers more time to rummage through my bags at night when no one is around.
It’s good to see you’re a glass half full kind of person! Thanks for the comment.