A time-saving airport hack is in place for those travelling on early morning flights – but not everybody knows about it.
While we Brits love a summer holiday or two, what most of us don’t enjoy is the stress and anxiety that comes with heading over to the airport.
There’s parking to sort, bags to check into the plane hold, a dash to go through security and even more queues if you want a coffee or a pint, depending on the time.
If you want to remain unplagued with elongated queue times and stay out of check-in chaos then there’s a time-saving hack in place at many airports across the UK.
On the EasyJet website, it’s advised that if you are travelling on one of their morning flights, you can drop off your hold luggage the evening before.
This is called the ‘Twilight Bag Drop’ and is available for early morning flights departing from; London Gatwick, Bristol and Belfast as well as Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Travellers departing from Amsterdam and Berlin Brandenburg airports can also save time by dropping off their hold bag ahead of time – as long as they remember their passports and boarding passes.
Each airport operates on a different opening and closing time for the EasyJet Twilight Bag Drop as well as the cut-off for morning departures.
So if you’re thinking about utilising the service it’s worth heading to the EasyJet website to get all the required information you need.
Other airlines such as British Airways, Tui and Jet2 also offer a twilight check-in service.
You can drop your bag off ahead of time at many airports. (Alex Segre/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
So again, it’s worth checking out whether this service is available for you to use before you head over to your departure airport.
If you’re skeptical then don’t worry because the Twilight Bag Drop is tried and tested.
One traveller who recently utilised it ahead of their flight from Birmingham Airport wrote on social media: “Driving 55 miles to @bhx_official use the twilight bag drop before our 7am flight tomorrow is something I could do without but I’m not taking the risk of leaving it until the morning with the security queues they’ve had of late.”
Interestingly though, this isn’t the only hack that can cut down your time at the airport.
Last year, a traveller posted their tips for seamlessly getting through London Heathrow airport security on TikTok.
London Heathrow are trialling a programme called Timeslot. (izusek/Getty Images)
In the video, they said: “If you’re flying out of London Heathrow anytime soon, you need to know about THIS. So you can avoid the crazy long security line… This is the coolest thing I’ve seen any airport do.
“They have a new thing called Timeslot that allows you to schedule when you go through security.”
Timeslot – which is currently being trialled at Heathrow – allows you to book your security pass so you can get through quicker.
“You can pick your timeslot two to three days before your trip, you’ll get a QR code and then you’ll make your way to the specific area in Heathrow – there are signs everywhere, you’ll be able to find it,” she revealed.