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How early to arrive at Bologna airport?

Posted by (Sapulpa, OK, USA) on

Our oddesey is coming to a close, and it's time for me to start twitching about the flight home.

The first leg (wing?) of our journey is a 7:50 a.m. flight from Bologna to LHR on British Airways. I've never been to the Bologna airport, but I'm imagining it as smaller and easier to get around in, more like Tulsa than DFW.

BA says on-site check-in starts 3 hours before takeoff, and is available until 45 minutes before. I'm being a wee bit sceptical, having previously shown up 3 hours before an early flight, only to wait over an hour for the desk to open.

Is anyone here familiar with the airport? Do we need to arrive three hours before the flight? It looks from their website that lines at security tend to be short. And we'll be traveling with carry-on only.

Thanks for your help. If anyone wants to know about flying out of Tulsa, I can help!

Posted by
353 posts

Bologna airport is easy. Also fairly close to the train station. There is an express bus (7 minutes) from the train station to the airport but with an early departure I don't use The Marconi express because the earliest departure is 5:40 am, for an early flight (I have a 6:50 flight) I take a taxi which are easily found at the train station even at very early hours.
I have also gotten my airbnb hosts to help me reserve a taxi to pick me up at the accommodation.

Posted by
6289 posts

Thanks, cafetista. Our hotel is about a kilometer from the station, but I think I'll ask the hotel to arrange a taxi for the early morning. We walked to get here, but I'm not sure we'd be relaxed enough to do that before a flight out.

For your 6:50 flight, what time do you usually plan to get to the airport?

Posted by
2945 posts

Arrived at Bologna three times within two hours of flight, no problems. Also, love their fried Bologna sandwiches with pasta, which is far from healthy but we're gonna die sometime!

Posted by
478 posts

In 2019 we had a 6:30 flight out of Bologna. Arrived our standard 2 hours early and had to wait until the check in counters opened at 5. It's an easy airport to navigate-and you may have time to get one last cappuccino before leaving!

Posted by
6289 posts

Thanks to all of you. Two hours before flight sounds way better than three, especially that time of day.

Big Mike, I grew up eating fried bologna sandwiches, but not with pasta. Smoked or barbecued bologna is big in parts of Oklahoma.

Den, one final cappuccino will be welcome. Who knows when we'll be back in Italy!

Posted by
23261 posts

Three hours early is generally for international flight departures. You are on a local flight to London for your international flight. Two hours will be adequate but check to see when the check-in desks open.

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