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6AM Edinburgh Flight Thurs- What to do this Last Night?

My wife and I will be turning in our rental car in Glasgow on a Wednesday afternoon and are trying to get ideas of what to do between Wednesday evening and our 6am flight from Edinburgh Thursday morning. Since we are flying international (making our way back to the US), should we plan on being at the airport by 3am? If so, any suggestions for the night? Seems that checking into a hotel will be only for 3-4 hours given the time required for transportation from the Glasgow area to the Edinburgh airport. From what I can tell, there are no lounges open at the airport through the night and we prefer not to camp out in the airport. Any advice or suggestions?

Posted by
11032 posts

Why spend the night in Glasgow if you are flying from EDI.? Why not go to Edinburgh Wed PM?

Does the plane you get on at EDI go to the US?

Posted by
2300 posts

Sleep in Edinburgh the night before your flight, for sure. Can you change the car rental return to Edinburgh?

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks for your suggestions and questions so far. The car rental has been set up pickup and returning to the same location in Glasgow. I will check on the the possibility of changing the drop-off to Edinburgh, which might help. We could then have an early night at an airport hotel. The flight departs from the Edinburgh airport and is the first leg that will take us to Frankfurt where we will get a nonstop flight to our home airport in the US.

Posted by
5376 posts

4am check in at EDI will be plenty early as it's only a flight to Germany. The check in desks wont be open any earlier, and the security lines won't be long. There is a constant update on the Edinburgh airport website as to how long the security lines are.
You don't say how you planned to get from Glasgow to EDI, but an hours road journey- by coach or taxi is never the best idea beforehand, just in case something happens on the freeway.
Even if you have to stay in Central Edinburgh, rather than the airport, at least you are on the spot.
If you stay at EDI airport overnight there is easy 24 hour a day transit into the city and vice versa.
No airport in the UK has lounges open 24 hours a day.
If you arrive at 4am, check in, do security then you may should be about right time for the lounges opening at 4.30am

Posted by
6228 posts

I agree that 4 am is fine for check in. If you get there at 3 am, you will be the only one there. The staff might not show up till 3:30 or 4. I had that happen in Berlin and swore I would never go that early again.

Posted by
358 posts

I would get across to Edinburgh and stay at the airport hotels or else one of the ones on the city centre bus route (such as the Holiday Inn near the zoo)

Posted by
3 posts

Update: We have changed our car rental to pick up the car in Glasgow and drop it off in Edinburgh. There was a significant cost increase to this new arrangement (+ 300 pounds) but it will be much easier on us in the end. Taking your advice, we won’t plan on getting to the airport before 4am since airport services won’t likely be available before then. We take it that the Edinburgh airport is not a large, feature-filled international destination hub that other airports can be! Thanks for your ideas!

Posted by
5376 posts

" just in case something happens on the freeway." Motorway, hence the M prefix.

Laughing Spam Fritter has a bad habit of such meaningless comments. This is an American forum, and Americans refer to Motorways as Freeways, you tailor the responses appropriately. Or interstates. Or the M6 Toll would be a Turnpike (a very old UK word).

Posted by
233 posts

Stuart,

One assumes if one visits Blighty any tourist from what ever country they come from want indulge in British culture and way of of life not a faux Americiana like you indulge in and pander too. For some reason you delight in belittling others that don't accord to your little way of life in a '60s bungalow in Whitehaven.

Posted by
5376 posts

The last comment by Laughing Spam Fritter has been reported to the Webmaster under the Community guidelines. He also has zero idea of what kind of property I live in (which is also totally irrelevant to anything, and he is utterly wide of the mark), and he has breached my privacy. At no time have I said exactly where I live. If he has nothing better to do than try to work that out from oblique clues that is his business but it is not his right to post it on here- whether he is right or wrong in that assumption.
Answer the OP's question, or don't bother posting.

Posted by
1814 posts

"We take it that the Edinburgh airport is not a large, feature-filled international destination hub that other airports can be! " While it is not a huge airport, we found it to be far more chaotic than LHR. Check in and the security process were both a mess with people cutting in line and also being redirected to other lines for no apparent reason except creating more chaos. The airport seemed to be short-staffed. Our experience was June, 2022.