Can you go to the airport 12 hours before a flight?

How early can you go to the airport before a flight?

How early can you go to the airport for a flight? At major airports, you can sometimes check bags up to 12 hours before your flight's departure time. This is not a guaranteed policy and depends entirely on the specific airline and airport staff.

So how early can you really show up. It's all a bit of a mess, I think. A gamble.

I had this flight from Heathrow to Tokyo, back on October 15th. A night flight. I got there at like 10 in the morning hoping to ditch my massive suitcase. The British Airways desk wasn't even technically open for my flight but the person there was nice. She just said okay.

So it worked. But I wouldnt count on it. It felt like it was just down to her mood, you know. Pure luck.

Then you try that for a domestic flight, say Austin to Denver, and they look at you like you're crazy. For those, the check-in desk might not even be staffed until three or four hours beforehand. Its a totaly different system.

My own rule now is, for international, I might try six hours early if I need to. Domestic, I stick to the three-hour script. Its just less of a headache.