Website suggests getting there 2 hours before departure. This seems excessive to me.
Has anyone flown easyjet from Basel here who can share experience of how much earlier you really need to be? Thanks.
Have a flight to Manchester tonight around 8pm. 1 piece of luggage to check-in.
Arrive at the airport 1 hour before departure. Not too early, not too late.
As long as your bag is checked in 40 mins before you're fine
Check-in closes 30 min before departure (or was it 40? I don't remember exactly... should be written on your reservation and boarding pass anyway so easy to check).
To that time you have to add the waiting in queue at the baggage drop and at the security scan which at 8 p.m. should not be too long. I'd say an hour should be a safe bet.
Once gate opens boarding also takes some time so you probably have a 20 minutes buffer in case you happen to be late, but I wouldn't count on that.
If you never flew Easyjet before be aware they are very strict about hand luggage. Only one is allowed so before boarding put any additional bag in your main hand luggage.
Basel airport is pretty quiet at the time of night. I'd go for 1hr 15 min.
Thanks all! I love how helpful people on EF are!
Easyjet like to scare people into turning up early.
When I'm flying with only carry ons I turn up max 1 hr before departure maximum, sometimes more like 45 mins. Remember to print out your boarding pass at home. If your carry on is a wheelie trolley, they are normally quite anal about the dimensions, but if you've got a soft bag or a backpack they're often more lenient, at least in my experience. It can come down to who is on duty though, and whether she's having her period.
If you're checking baggage, you can maybe add an additional 15 to 20 minutes to this. Even if the queue at the baggage drop is long, they are tolerant to people jumping the queue if their flight is imminent. In Gatwick they even send agents along the queue to fast forward such passengers.
In this case would aim to be there 1 hour before. But I live very close to the airport so there is very low risk and very low impact of anything causing a delay en route. If I lived in Zurich I would probably aim for 1h15 or 1h30 before flight.
As others have said the queue for bag drop can be long, but on a week night this is unlikely to be too bad.
Queues at security are also usually very short. The French security queue is usually even shorter, ie when facing the Easyjet desks turn right and go up the escalator on the French side.
We flew that route recently. If you are at the gate 30 mins before departure it is enough.
They open the gate much in advance even though the aircraft is not ready. If you haven't reserved a seat and want a good one, go early and get your self ahead of the line.
All seats are reserved on EasyJet flights now.
Total irrelevant where you are in the line !
1) Speedy Boarders
2) People/Familes with kids under 5
3) By numbers written on your boarding pass dependant when it was issued
But as Porsch 1909 so correctly says seats are now allocated. Either you pay for nice seats or you have one allocated when you get your boarding pass, so stand wherever you want.
I always found closest to the bar is the best place
The other day i saw a train from Montreux to GVA that was delayed for almost 1hr. Imagine if you have a flight to catch.
That would be a bugger
someone appears to like my username a little more than usual