Manchester Airport increases passenger use of bag drop hack

Image courtesy MAG
    
When you think of travelling through an airport before heading off on your holiday, there are multiple steps you know you need to plan for, from checking in and dropping off your bags, to going through security and finding your boarding gate.

Navigating this process is probably not the part of the trip that passengers look forward to the most, particularly if they are trying to look after children at the same time or have a lot of luggage.

Online check-in has helped speed things up in recent years but another little-known service now being offered by several airlines at Manchester Airport has been hailed as a ‘gamechanger’ by bosses.

TUI, Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2.com and Virgin Atlantic all offer a service at the northern hub that allows passengers on eligible flights to drop their bags at the airport the evening before they are due to fly.

Dedicated lanes for the service at the airlines’ check-in desks make the process quick and simple and passengers can even get free parking for up to an hour while using the service.

Each of the airlines operating a day-before bag drop runs the service themselves and there are some slight differences in how they operate them.

TUI calls the service ‘Day-before Bag Drop’. If a flight is departing before midday, passengers can use it between 2pm and 9pm the day before. Passengers will need to bring their passports and travel documents with them. Using this service also means passengers can grab their boarding passes ahead of time from TUI’s check-in machines.
 
For passengers travelling with children or in big groups, not everybody has to be present for Day-before Bag Drop. As long as one person in the party has everyone’s passports and they can handle all the luggage, they’re able to check in the whole group.

Passengers can use the T2 West multi-storey car park for up to an hour, free of charge. They will need to collect a token as they enter the car park and TUI check-in staff will validate it after they have dropped their bags, before leaving the terminal.

The service is not available on TUI’s P&O Cruises flights.

Jet2.com’s ‘Twilight Check-In’ service is available for all flights departing before 12 noon and is open between 4.30pm and 9pm the evening before. Again, passengers need to remember to bring their passport and travel documents with them. For passengers travelling as a group of up to six people on the same booking, only one person from the group needs to be present but that person will need to take along passports, boarding passes and any essential travel documents for each member of the group when they go to use Twilight Check-In.

Jet2.com operates from Terminal 2 and you can use the Terminal 2 West multi-storey car park for up to an hour, free of charge. Passengers will collect a token as they enter the car park and Jet2.com check-in staff will validate it.

Virgin Atlantic offers its Twilight Check In on all its flights from Manchester and it is open every evening from 4pm to 8pm for flights departing the next day. All customers travelling must be there to check in, with their own passports. Again, passengers can use the Terminal 2 West multi-storey car park for up to an hour, free of charge, with the same mechanism described above.

EasyJet’s ‘Twilight Bag Drop’ is available for flights leaving before 8.30am and is open 6pm to 9pm the previous evening, at its check-in zone in Terminal 1.

Each passenger will need to be present with their passport and digital boarding card. Passengers can park for up to half an hour free of charge in the Terminal 3 multi-storey car park, which is just a short walk from Terminal 1. Again, passengers should take a token on arrival and easyJet staff will validate it.

Ryanair’s Twilight Bag Drop service is for flights departing at 8am or earlier and you can use it between 7pm and 10pm the evening before. The airline operates from Terminal 3 and passengers can use the Terminal 3 multi-storey car park for up to half an hour free of charge, using the same mechanism described above.

Jennifer Byrne-Smith – Customer Operations Director, Manchester Airport, said: "We and our airline partners are always looking at ways of making journeys simpler and smoother for our passengers, and these services are a gamechanger. Dropping your bags off at the airport the day before you travel means you can get through the airport more quickly on the day of your flight and we know that passengers who use these services really value the flexibility that they offer. It’s also generally quicker to drop your bags off the day before, because not everyone using this service is arriving at the same time, as tends to happen on the day of the flight.”

Sue Bradley – Director of Customer Experience Delivery, TUI UK & Ireland. said: “With our Day-before Bag Drop service, passengers can skip any morning queues, get into holiday-mode even quicker, and enjoy some extra time in bed. We know our customers love the flexibility of choosing when to drop their bags off, as it makes their travel day even more seamless.

"An hour of free-parking at T2 West multistorey also gives our customers peace of mind that Day-before Bag Drop comes at no extra cost. All they need to do is speak to one of our friendly airport customer experience team members, and we’ll validate their parking token for them after they’ve checked in their luggage.

“Ultimately, less time spent thinking about carrying bags means our customers can spend even more time getting excited about their holiday and enjoying the airport facilities. That’s what travel day is all about.”