In message
, at
02:14:07 on Tue, 16 Mar 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:
On Mar 15, 4:50*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

But I would allow two hours if flying on a charter airline and needing
to check luggage.

Currently, people largely haven't realised that you can now check in
online and check in luggage on easyJet, and so the "bag drop" queue is
always short.

That may not last long (if the airport is generally busy - when I was at
Luton on Sunday the massive check-in hall was virtually empty, with just
two desks open and a handful of people checking in; I've also seen it
almost full!) which has been my experience with BA, their "fast" bag
drop being anything but.

But, once they do, Speedy Boarding offers you a dedicated check-in desk
that pretty much allows you to arrive at Luton at the same time you
would with hand luggage only and still check a bag in. Another hour in
bed when going for an 0625 is *definitely* worth 8 quid (or whatever it
costs now).

I agree, if you can predict it's busy. I obviously have a little cloud
following me around... only used Speedyboarding check-in once, at
Gatwick, and it had a longer queue than the regular check-ins.

LTN has its faults, but it's definitely a better experience than
Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted (though the latter is the lesser of the
3 evils). The only thing that tends to cause big delays is passport
control, and the auto gates are likely to help that somewhat once they
are in reliable operation.

The autogates are quite slow. I have a fear that all they will do is
allow the employment of fewer people (they've been striking over cuts
recently) without reducing the waiting times.

Similarly, the IRIS gates are a bit of a sideshow - so unreliable it
takes about a minute per person, and even then quite a few rejects. If
there are more than a handful of people waiting it's quicker to use the
normal channels.
--
Roland Perry