Check in times!

Fabio

Lads,

Aer Lingus recommend a three and a half hour check-in time at Shannon for flights to the States.

My flight in July leaves at 13:15 and the earliest bus from Cork to Shannon arrives in the airport at 10:30. Despite it not being before the three and a half hour recommendation, is this still ok???

And has anyone any idea why they make the time so long...more than three hours is huge...

randomname

Fabio wrote: »

Lads,

Aer Lingus recommend a three and a half hour check-in time at Shannon for flights to the States.

My flight in July leaves at 13:15 and the earliest bus from Cork to Shannon arrives in the airport at 10:30. Despite it not being before the three and a half hour recommendation, is this still ok???

And has anyone any idea why they make the time so long...more than three hours is huge...

In Dublin, if you are going to New York you go through US Immigration in Ireland.

Last time I was flying to states i was there roughly 2 1/2 hours before flight and that was plenty of time.

Don't know if its the same in Shannon but going through security and immigration can take a while. They will only start boarding plane about 40 minutes before it takes off.

mikedragon32

You don't have to be there 3.5 hours in advance, that's what they recommend.

Notwithstanding the fact you have to do customs/immigration clearance I believe it's part of the great duty free racket. After all, what else are you going to do for over three hours in an airport?

Fabio

Very true. I think I should probabaly check with a travel agent just to make sure though cos the situation with the bus is well out of my control and if I do have to be therer before or just on ther three and a half hours I'll have to do an overnighter in Shannon which is more money to the hotels and b&bs....more money that i don't have!

Boom_Bap

The 3.5 hours is a recommendation, it would never take that long.

Just dont cut it too close, in the small print on your ticket, it probably says that if you havnt checked in 40 minutes before the scheduled departure time, they can re-allocate your reservation.

Enjoy the trip

Fabio

Thanks Boom Bap!

The bus gets in to Shannon Airport at 10am so that's be plenty of time for US Immigratiion Control and all would it...considering the flight ain't till 13:15!!!

highlydebased

Being in Shannon at 10am will be plenty- Check-in probably wont even be open at that time. Although EI's lines at Shannon are always notoriously long.

If you queue up early for immigration its painless

jjbrien

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Being in Shannon at 10am will be plenty- Check-in probably wont even be open at that time. Although EI's lines at Shannon are always notoriously long.

If you queue up early for immigration its painless

not if you check in online

Fabio

You can check in online despite having bags???

highlydebased

Fabio wrote: »

You can check in online despite having bags???

Even if you do you still have to queue up in same queue to drop off bags!

Not too sure of OLCI is available for US bound flights though

jjbrien

Fabio wrote: »

You can check in online despite having bags???

You can now check in online with bags saving time for yourself

You can check-in online 30 hours in advance (24 hours in advance to/from USA) and up to 2 hours before your scheduled departure time.
Web Check-in allows you to print your boarding pass. To do so you must have Adobe Acrobat reader. Download here.
After you Check-in online you can proceed directly to the Bag Tag and Drop desk where your checked luggage can be processed. Please note that Bag Tag and Drop off desks are not available at all airports.
Seats are automatically assigned for all passengers, and in groups of 6 or less, seats are assigned together where possible. To change your seats, click the 'Change Seats' button on the 'Seating' page.
Passengers travelling from the USA with Web boarding passes must present themselves at the dedicated Web check-in counter at the airport at least 45 minutes prior to their scheduled departure time.

from http://www.aerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obel01im1/Services/wci.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1424601788.1209771504@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckadedmkkdelkcefecfigdffgdfkh.0&P_OID=-8074&Category=3#music

Fabio

Fantastic, that's great thanks lads.

wet-paint

And you don't have to get a hotel o spend the night there beforehand, just kip under a stairs or behind a vending machine, it's commonly done.

Fabio

Mmm I've done it Dublin myself a few times. I doubt that my travelling companion, a female, would be up for that though haha!

BanzaiBk

wet-paint wrote: »

And you don't have to get a hotel o spend the night there beforehand, just kip under a stairs or behind a vending machine, it's commonly done.

I once stayed 13 hours overnight in Shannon. Trust me, that is NOT something you want to do:o

The Artist

BanzaiBk wrote: »

I once stayed 13 hours overnight in Shannon. Trust me, that is NOT something you want to do:o

yes the security will only make you move on.The gardi also gets involved as well as due to the homeless trying to sleep in airports imo.

kerry4sam

I've taken a fair few flights from Dublin and on the upper floor their were always people asleep on the chairs and couches and no-body, no security nor staff even batted an eye-lid (once their was a school-tour - about 25people) ... 8 of us (4male & 4female) done it once last October and it was grand ... security were real sound. They do keep a stringent look at everyone though and even asked a few people to see their flight details and passport ...

If you have another option than getting a few zzzzz's at the airport i would take it though

BanzaiBk

davey180 wrote: »

yes the security will only make you move on.The gardi also gets involved as well as due to the homeless trying to sleep in airports imo.

No one said anything to us. At all. There was 8 of us (all women). We weren't even asked for flight details.

vorbis

3and a half hours beforehand? Thats complete bollix. I've flown to Boston from Shannon at least 6 times and you need nowhere near that amount of time. 2 hours is plenty. Try and check in online. That saves you a load of time. The bag tag and drop line is always shorter. Even if you don't check in online, you can still do a self service check in at one of the machines and then drop your bags at the bag drop.

Sometimes, though online checkin doesn't work but you'll still make your flight if you're there two hours beforehand.