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Bristol Airport - how far in advance to arrive?

I have a flight from Bristol Airport to Dublin on Aer Lingus on Saturday, May 17 at 12:25. I have a bag to check. Aer Lingus closes check in 45 minutes before departure.

I am planning to take the Air Decker bus from Bath. I have the choice of a bus arriving at 9:16 or 10:18. I am thinking that 10:18 (2 hours early) should be sufficient time, but have never used this airport. Do you think 2 hours would be sufficient or should I allow 3 hours? Thanks!

Posted by
6129 posts

The airport has its own website. It advises arriving at the terminal 2 hours before your flight

Posted by
6054 posts

Thanks CJean. I did see that on their website. It is just since I am taking the bus there is always a possibility of traffic and I am wondering if I would be cutting it to close. I guess I should have been more clear about this concern.

Posted by
9343 posts

I would advise the 9.18 arrival. For all airports National Express (I know this isn't a Nat ex service) advise arriving 1 hour before airline check in time.
Yesterday I was on a Ripon to Leeds bus. Due to the cumulative effects of a literally 50 yard stretch of roadworks in a normally traffic clogged location we ran into Leeds 39 minutes late - 2 hours 24 minutes for a 30 mile supposedly express journey.

I then had a rail connection at the end of a long day- the last train of the day and was starting to tear my hair out.
It's a different story that I then made the train after a high speed trot through Leeds- which in turn eventually ran 65 minutes late due to a missing person with dementia reported to be on the tracks.

Posted by
1664 posts

Build in plenty of time for the bus. You do need to be there 2 hours before so don’t risk cutting it too fine. The queue to check a bag with Aer Lingus shouldn’t be too long as they don’t fly many routes but security can take a while to get through.