I'll be on a river cruise with a group of four in October. I've neve been on one before. It ends in Regensberg. We booked air through the tour company and will fly home from Munich that day, about an hour from Regensberg. The tour company provides our transport to Munich. I assume there will be multiple departure times, so we can choose one that's appropriate for our flight time. One person in our group booked a 10 a.m. flight, the rest of us have a Lufthansa flight at 3:30, non-stop to Chicago. If the four of us all get to the airport at around 7:30 a.m. that day, will the three of us with the 3:30 flight be able to check our bags at that time? I'm thinking we could then take a cab into Munich's city center and roam around for 4 hours before catching a cab back to the airport. Will Lufthansa let us check bags 7 or 8 hours before flight time? I can call the airline's customer service and ask but thought someone on here might know.
Posted by
Green Bay
21145 posts
Probably not that early, but why take a cab when you can buy a group day ticket from the MVV and ride the S-Bahn into Munich and back to the airport plus free use of the Munich transit while you are in town. Cost is 24.30 EUR total for the 3 of you. Trains into town every 10 minutes.
https://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/tickets-and-fares/tickets-daytickets/group-day-ticket/index.html
There is a luggage storage depot at Munich airport.
https://www.munich-airport.com/depositing-items-978662
Posted by
OP
Wisconsin
466 posts
Perfect, Sam! The ability to pay a small fee to store bags at the airport, and the frequent and inexpensive S-bahn ride to/from city center, will be great options for us to utilize!
Posted by
11569 posts
I would guess that the river boat company will arrange timing for transportation to the airport by your flight departure times. I would be surprised if you went at the same time as your friends who have much earlier flights. If they try to send you do early, demand a later transfer.
Posted by
Houston
3522 posts
On the Lufthansa web site, they mention "Late Night Check-in" which allows check in of your luggage up to 23 hours before departure as long as you drop the luggage between 04:00 and 21:00. That's it though, no further details I can find on restrictions. But it would seem this would cover your afternoon flight if you check in at 07:30. I would suggest contacting them directly.
Posted by
Houston, Texas
975 posts
More than likely your cruise director will setup the departure from the ship. Regensberg is about 1.5 hours from the Munich Airport, the real question is how early do you want to get up? Remember checkin for international flights usually starts about 3 hours before departure.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11877 posts
Definitely a question for the airline to answer.
Posted by
OP
Wisconsin
466 posts
I wasn't really looking for a way to extend our stay in Regensberg, and take a later bus/van to the airport, as much as I was exploring whether we can take advantage of the early ride to Munich's airport and have some time to wander around in city center, luggage-free, before our flight later in the day. Thanks to all for your replies!
Posted by
midwest- Michigan
489 posts
Vickie,
not sure what river cruise company you are using, but it should be always possible to schedule the transport for whatever time you'd like. Speak to your cruise director well in advance of disembarkment.
We've gone on 3 river cruises and have also have traveled thru Munich several times (it is one of my favorite airports to fly from Chicago to Europe).
In our experience, if the agents are open you can check in baggage and get boarding ticket (Possibly without a gate assignment). Then you can hop on the train to the city, and spend the morning .... Munich is fun and small, but you will need to get from the train station to down town or where ever you'd like to see. A cab may be cheaper with 3 of you. The also have Uber in Munich, but we have had mix results with Uber. Keep in mind the time and I would get back to the airport in plenty of time to go thru security (including the questioning of US immigration that looks like airline employees.) If you arrive a bit early, then have your last Bavarian beer before getting on the plane.
Have fun and enjoy the leisure of the river cruise!