Airport advice

[poppy1973]

So haven't taken the children before to an airport. Flying off to Italy in the next few weeks. We have booked with Ryanair and have pre booked our tickets for seats on the plane. We have also booked 1 suitcase in and will take hand luggage on with us. How soon do we need to arrive at the airport ? Flying out from Stansted ?Is it worth getting a fast track ticket for us ? will this help at all as we have to book in one suitcase ? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

I would absolutely book Fast Track (for security) and Priority (for boarding).

You should be okay if you get to the airport 2 hrs before the departure time assuming you've checked-in online beforehand and don't faff around too much! But with kids and the unpredictability of airports these days 3 hrs might be safer / less stressful.

Have a lovely holiday!

Thank you, will get that booked and allow for 3 hours.

No need to buy in advance. Look at what the queues are like on the day and then buy it if you feel the regular queues are too long.
I do think it depends on your flight time as there are a lot of budget flights leaving early morning from stansted which can make it chaotic.
Definitely recommend it for passport control on your way home.

Are you flying to ancona op?

I am too in August it's the first time we will fly with three

Get a baby zen yo-yo

We booked the fast track

Obviously different airports will have different staffing levels but my sister recently used heathrow to fly back to Oz. Despite being pre checked in online she queued for well over an hour and a half to get the luggage dropped off but then wizzed through security with no fast track so it is really hard to judge.

You definitely need to allow more time than you think and take plenty of stuff in hand luggage to entertain the kids

It depends on your kids but I don't think priority boarding is always an advantage with little ones, it's just longer to confine them to a small space while everyone else faffs about boarding. You've got reserved seats together so personally I'd be one of the last to board and let them burn off steam in the terminal first.