Virgin online check-in - when to get to the airport

[dis-me]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone could advise how early it is sensible to get to the airport, if you have already checked-in online previously.
This is a difficult one for me as we usually fly cheaper airlines where you have to get to the airport really early to ensure a seat together!

The planner in me still wants to get to the airport 4 hours early, but I realise this probably isn't necessary if we've already checked in online. would really appreciate any advice/experiences!

thanks

 

[Soprano]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone could advise how early it is sensible to get to the airport, if you have already checked-in online previously.
This is a difficult one for me as we usually fly cheaper airlines where you have to get to the airport really early to ensure a seat together!

The planner in me still wants to get to the airport 4 hours early, but I realise this probably isn't necessary if we've already checked in online. would really appreciate any advice/experiences!

thanks

I tried to check-in online last year with Virgin, but the system was down!

We arrived at 9am for our flight at 11.15. There was no queue at all! Very happy.

You can pre-book your seats well in advance, so perhaps thats the best idea?

Theres usually no need to arrive earlier than 3 hours before take off. We arrived just over 2 hours and found it a good time period. Early enough not to panic and you only have a very short time for a coffee and snoop around the shops before take off

 

[wifey]

We are aiming for 2 hrs early too with any luck, just hope we can get down to the airport and get a hotel room the day before we fly and chill out for a few hours, but hey we probably won't sleep much from anticipation LOL Just praying for a smooth day no complications

 

[DisneyJo]

Just to say that yes you can prebook seats, I always do, but they are not guaranteed. Last time, even though we still checked in about 3 hours early (this was before I knew about on-line and we didn't want to get stuck in traffic or anything) our seats had gone! The checkin desk could then only offer us 2 lots of 2, which we were unhappy with, so I asked very nicely, she disappeared behind the scenes and managed to get another section of the plane opened and we got our 4 in a row.

I would still like to know the OP answer if anyone knows as I intend booking in on-line this year.

 

[dis-me]

thanks everyone. we have pre-booked our seats so hopefully they will still be there waiting for us!
I think we will arrive 2 and a half hours before take off

 

[squitty]

I always like to get there early, at least 3 hours before, even when doing OLCI and Twilight Checkin.

 

[Chilly]

In September we checked in online and arrived 2 hours before the flight left.

 

[Sue's Mum]

On 30 November last, we did online check in and arrived at Manchester 2 hours before take off. There were an awful lot of people going through security and we did not have enough time to have any breakfast, which is our tradition, nor look at the duty free. It was straight to the gate once we had got through security checks.

 

[wicket2005]

Read this thread the other day, then on the night ended up having a dream about missing the plane and missing the whole holiday! I am getting there early which will be easy this year as we are staying at the Radisson the night before.