Airport- how long in advance of flight to turn up?

[whataboutbob]

I’m hoping to go to france (Amber) in late September. There’s an early flight (7:15 from Heathrow) but I’m wondering whether that might be unwise to book if the process is a lot longer these days due to Covid and I might miss the flight. Any advice welcome- I haven’t flown since February 2020.

I took a 0600 flight to Mallorca with Jet2holidays last week from Stansted. Arrived at airport at 0345…check in smooth and security no worse than pre covid (think we benefited from being on the first flight of the day - queues hadn’t built up)

We flew at 07.25, got there at about 5:15am, the queues wasn't too bad but pretty much as soon as we got through to departures we were called ! And it went straight from gate closed to final call which was strange

Thanks guys that is reassuring. Hope you enjoyed your holiday Bot! A 0600 flight sounds fierce. Can’t wait to get away.

We flew from Gatwick in early July and the procedure wasn't much longer than usual TBH. Covid test forms were checked at the check in desk then it was through security and on to breakfast in Wetherspoons. We were 2 hours ahead of our 10am flight departure.

We flew to Palma Mallorca from Gatwick last Tuesday at 09.10. Got there maybe 2 1/2 hours before but didn’t really need the extra time. Covid vaccine and negative Covid test documentation was checked when we checked our luggage and that was it.

This is all reassuring, as I’ll be getting to airport by train, there’s a slightly later flight at Gatwick but I’ll only be there about 1.15 hours before the flight- I’ve done this before Covid and it’s been ok for time.