What is your cut off for getting an airport hotel?

If I was going by public transport I would always stay the night before, just because I’m anxious and paranoid about delays and cancellations!!

For me the built-in time for delays would be the fact you have chosen to arrive at the airport 3 hours before. So if it’s 5h by coach and you have a 7:30am departure option, I’d do. Otherwise I’d leave around 9am on the train which gives you 3.5 hours plus an hour for delays. Only you know how reliable your train line is.

I say this as I don’t go to airports any earlier than 90 mins before take off. 2 hours if I’m checking in luggage and it’s an unknown airport, perhaps.

There hours in advance for a flight to Europe is crazy.

Also, where on earth do you live that your nearest airport is a five-hour coach journey away?

If you want to go the day before and have a night in a hotel, why not do it. Think of it as part of the holiday.

3 hours is crazy . 70 minutes for a regional airport and 90 for a London airport is my aim and I fly minimum once a month.

It's airport dependent but I agree with others that at most major airports three hours before a European departure is crazily early...some airports you'll be too early to bag drop.

OTOH being in position the night before takes a heck of a lot of stress out of the day, so I wouldn't argue about travelling to the airport the evening before.

That makes your hols more expensive for no reason

Fair enough, you do as you wish. But the “guidance” is nothing official and varies by airline / airport terminal / even airport. You’ll sometimes have three airlines departing from the same airport to the same city in X country giving you three different times 😂 Obviously none of them are the “official guidance”.

You asked for personal opinions and for the general consensus. That’s what people are providing.

Why did you ask us for what the general consensus is if you have already decided 3 hours is the standard? It really isn’t.

Perhaps if you’re flying ex-EU with a UK passport, have luggage to check in, and a tax refund to file, in school holidays… yes, I’d see how 3 hours would be relevant there.

Bristol to Rome with what I assume is a budget airline and without a passport check? 3 hours is not the standard at all.

the “guidance” is nothing official and varies by airline / airport terminal / even airport.

Very much agree...some airports/airlines like you airside early for all sorts of reasons but it's not the law, even at Heathrow most days an hour will do (maybe less), and three hours airside at a small airport will possibly see you losing the will to live before you've got anywhere near the aircraft..

Ultimately it is of course your call.

You said “on this sort of thing”. Apologies if everybody has misunderstood your post.

My cutoff for an airport hotel is actually to do with landing late rather than early departures. I can stomach a very early time for setting off, say 3/4am, but I absolutely hate trying to navigate public transport after midnight when I have a late landing. I’ll usually get a hotel in those cases, when I can just plop down on a bed and continue the journey in the morning.

There is nothing silly about it! Even if your flight was 10pm you could still stay the night before. We’re conditioned to justify our every move but you just don’t have to. Travel in comfort, treat yourself and don’t think anything more of it. Have a great holiday!

I don’t have a cut off as such, I’ll decide depending on how easy the journey is, who I’m travelling with and how flush I’m feeling. If you’d be more relaxed going the day before it’s worth it.

They say three hours in advance to cover their backsides and encourage you to spend more money at the airport. Do you have hold baggage to check in? I never do, so I aim for somewhere between 90 mins and 2 hours before the flight goes (which is always too long and involves a lot of sitting around, but allows a safety buffer in case of public transport delays).

I'd get the train rather than the coach though in case of traffic delays. Trains can still have delays, obviously, but rarely as hideous.

I often stay at an airport hotel the night before because I enjoy it.

I live 20 minutes from the airport and have a 2pm flight coming up. But I'll stay over because I find it more relaxing than leaving home on the morning of the flight. Once I get to the hotel I feel like I'm on holiday. Nice dinner, early night, lie in and a hotel breakfast before I mooch over to the terminal. Lovely.

I would stay in Bristol, not necessarily at the airport but near your transport to the airport. I agree, a 3pm flight is a 12/1pm arrival at airport and being 5 hours away is an early start. Get a hotel!

Rural Devon to Bristol Airport.

So the coach would be using the M5 at least part of the way? If so, book the hotel. The chances of getting stuck in a traffic jam in the M5 are high.

Trains in the West Country aren't very reliable and only go to Bristol Temple Meads so you have to get a bus through Bristol's traffic to the airport. I'd book the hotel.

And yes, if you have luggage to check in Easyjet recommends arriving 3 hours before your flight time at Bristol.

2 hours is more than enough

@JoanOgden

They say three hours in advance to cover their backsides and encourage you to spend more money at the airport.

This^.

By all means aim for three hours if that suits but that's already got a stack of buffers built in that won't be needed 99% of days, and 99.9% of days outside of school holiday Fridays and Saturdays.

The danger IMO is treating the 3 hours as an absolute target (e.g "because the airline says...) and so sticking another chunk of buffer time in front.....

The last time we went to America we flew from Heathrow, we flew from Scotland the day before and stayed in an airport hotel, we don't believe in being harassed and stressed going on holiday,

i think you going the day before makes total sense, do it.