Checking bags
 

We will be flying out of St. Louis on a flight to Toronto connecting to Paris in September. We will be arriving at the airport with not much time to share. If we get boarding passes on the internet, how exactly do we get our bags checked when we arrive at the airport. We have flown many, many times and never really gotten our boarding passes on the internet. I need to know exactly how to do this since we will be short of time when we arrive at the airport.

If you want to check bags, you will have to go to the airline counter to do so. (This is why printing your boarding passes in advance really only saves time if you are carrying your bags on.)

Your airline may have self-check kiosks that you can use to check your bags, but you will still have to go to the counter to have your bags tagged and collected.

Having a boarding pass does not speed up anything (by much) if you need to check luggage. You will still need to wait in line and go to a counter for that.

Based on this and your other thread - do you <i>really</i> want to start your European trip in panic mode "Are we going to make it or not?".

1 - What if you hit traffic and are late exchanging keys at the airport?

2 - What if the person you are meeting to get your keys/car gets delayed arriving AT the airport?

3 - What if there is a long queue at security or at the airline desk?

I'd do one of the following:

• figure out a way to get to St Louis earlier so you can check in earlier.
• fly out the next day
or
• travel carry on only but that won't help if either #1 or #2 happens.

If you arrive less than one hour before your flight to check your bags you may be asked to sign a waiver that your bags might not arrive with you. Airlines require bags be checked at least one hour prior to departure. I arrived 55 minutes before a flight ORD-CDG and had to sign that waiver, but lucky for me, my bag did arrive with me. I was stuck in Chicago traffic and just could not get to Ohare any quicker!

This is an international flight and airlines increasingly insist that all passengers be in the plane, with the door closed, well before the announced departure time.

Some airports have curbside check-in; we have found those lines to be extremely short; you avoid going to the ticket counter. Tip the guy who takes your bags.

At my local airport - curbside isn't allowed for international flights. But St Louis might be different??

It is an international flight, but if you look at the OP's other thread, there's a poster who says the plane in question is a 50-seater regional jet used to quickie turn-around times. So I now have no idea if this is a "real" international flight, with all the usual attendant parameters, or not!

We were headed out on a trip and both heard the same information we would have multiple legs on our flight. My first thought was we should try to pack light and not check any bags. The first thing you need to consider when you plan to travel is to how to pack and get ready for the trip.

Give the pilot an extra set of keys ahead of time (or leave them at a secure location) and exchange information on car location by text.

I didn't read your other post so don't know if you can get by with carry on luggage and 1 personal item. If you can, that's the way to fly. We haven't checked bags in our last several trips. We'll fly to Venice in Nov. for a 19 night trans Atlantic cruise, and will not take luggage to check. I'll pack 5 outfits and wearing the 6th. I actually did a practice pack last week because I'm taking some extra items on this trip, including a hair dryer. Wanted to make sure everything would fit. It did. Our flights are sooo much easier and stress free since we've stopped checking luggage, and I have never found I needed something I wasn't able to pack. Good luck!