We are travelling from Geneva with easyjet as family of five. it is one single booking for five, and we added three large suitcases for the hold. The booking confirmation received via email lists all individual passengers with small cabin luggage first, and then at the very end of the booking, under baggage mentions: Hold luggage; 3 x 23kg hold bag. Now, all five boarding passes have the hold luggage symbol on it, without any quantity specified.
My question - as we will need to go to the airport with three small kids, would I be able to go by myself to the airport first, with three large suitcases and check them in by myself?
I would then return and come back with the rest of the family; this is to avoid going altogether with tons of luggage and kids by public transport; time is not the issue, the luggage check-in opens three hours in advance. My worry is if they would let me check in suitcases without other travellers being present?
Best bet would be to check directly with Easyjet Geneve themselves (contact details linked below), it seems it’s possible to drop stuff off up to three hours beforehand but I can’t find any information about how many items per boarding card are allowed… drop-off involves printing out the label at a terminal so having at least three boarding passes but only one person present in theory would work, then depending on where you live it might be tight returning home to fetch the family.
Otherwise Easyjet apparently introduced a ‘fetch your baggage from home’ service a couple of weeks ago and Geneva is one of the lucky cities. Might be worth finding out if you can add this to your flight?
I am not sure if you are aware but right now baggage checkin with Easyjet is unmanned in Geneva, you go to terminal, print your stuff , put the tag on luggage and put it on belt all by yourself.
Currently there is some general staff to help with questions but like 2 people on whole 15 gates setup. With massive queue of travelers this may be tricky. I am not sure if that's 100% setup from now on or for Christmas they will put more staff there. There was a lady last time checkin basics upon entry into the area but I am pretty sure she isn't checking every single person (ie I went through without any ticket, just helping my wife)
Honestly, if you want to make your life easy, all take a taxi together to the airport and give yourself the full 3 hours to deal with queues ant check-in and Security etc.
I've often gone to the airport with my family. I queue while they go to sit and have a drink at one of the cafes. I have their passports, suitcases and boarding cards, and I've never had a problem checking in.
Seeing how insane it is to travel with EasyJet from Geneva during the hols I'd show up at least 3 hours in advance. We once arrived at the airport 3 hours before departure while flying to the UK for Xmas with hold luggage and we barely made the flight. The bag drop-off queue stretched a significant way down the airport.
I think the problem is that over Xmas there are significantly more people travelling with hold luggage (families with cold-weather clothing for adults + kids, presents, etc.) on top of all the skier traffic who also have bags and skis to check. So the bag drop is extra busy.
Am not sure having self-check for the bags means things will be faster, but I have on more than one occasion seen people have a meltdown in the bag drop queue because they missed their bag drop cutoff and hence couldn't fly.
Would it be feasible for you to travel to GVA by taxi/Uber with the luggage and your spouse travel separately with the kids using public transportation? You could RDV at the airport, and depending on what the EasyJet staff say about dropping the bags your family might be able to hang out at a cafe while you take care of the luggage. If you are told all members of your party need to be present at the bag drop you could just send them a message when you are close to the front of the queue and they could join you then.
Also, if you've not flown from GVA recently a TOP TIP is to use the new super-fast security check where you don't need to remove liquids from your bag, etc.. It is wayyyyy faster than regular security and would also be easier for the kids. After you scan your boarding cards to access security it's through the door on the right.
Easyjet bag drop queues can be crazy at GVA. I definitely don't think 3 hours is enough to endure the bag drop queue, go home and return with family, endure security queue and make it to the gate. That is asking for trouble.
Many thanks to all! this is very useful. If it is indeed unattended baggage check in that would be best. Might pass by and see for myself. Taxi is not really an option, unless we take two (as we are 2km from the airport it would probably be an overkill...).
And the taxi will take you to the airport door. Other public transport stops are further away.
Tip: For those arriving at GVA by train (and after taking escalator up from the platforms) the signs in the station direct you to take another escalator up to departures, then you walk outside past the bus stops (and lifts from underground parking) to enter the airport. But if you ignore the escalator and make a slight right turn you will arrive inside the terminal on the arrivals level. You still need an escalator but you are indoors all the way and it’s less crowded.
You won’t be the only people doing this. Nothing sneaky.
Hmm this is strange, every single time anybody's flight is coming to closing checkin gate they (Easyjet staff) scream repeatedly at all folks if anybody is affected. I mean its basic logic - if you are in such situation, let folks know! They are there to help you but you need to get visible, they will not re-book that seat in 60 minutes, potentially just lose a customer and get a bad rep.
Second point about faster security checkin ain't always true, since many know about it, most folks try to go there. Last time it took us significantly longer through that part compared to usual one (I could see folks that were in front of us initially and went through normal checks, they saved good 20 minutes and it wasn't any festive period). And you literally just have to take few things out and then put them back in, not the worst thing even with 2 small kids, definitely better than extra 20 mins standing in queues.
Nope, GVA is like anywhere else, they just seem to chronically understaff the check-in desks. I don't think I've ever seen all of them manned at the same time.
Twice we have been at GVA airport 3 hours in advance for SleazyJet during the holidays but still had to be pulled out of the queue and fast-tracked to check our bags. On both occasions others in the fast track queue who were pulled to the front for their flights still did not make their bag drop cutoff, despite supplications and (very genuine) tears. And I think both times this happened to us we dropped our bags with minutes to spare.
Since the last time this happened to us we refuse to fly EasyJet from GVA if we can at all avoid it.
I used to be a big EasyJet fan, flew with them a lot. But since Covid they have been a nightmare. I lost track of the number of flights they’ve cancelled and screwed my plans up with it. I’m flying with them for the last time this coming week, then it’s other airlines wherever possible.
In post #5 above saya-jin says they have got rid of people and replaced them with machines. Depending on how many (working) machines they have perhaps we won’t see big queues any more.
They did this at Bristol some months ago and there it appeared much more efficient.