How early can we check in for our flight?

jammy123

We are flying from gatwick south terminal in the easter hols.
There will be 7 of us including my disabled mum and my 4 year old son.
I want to make sure we all get seated together but cannot afford to pay extra for all of us.
We fly out at 7.55 am so does any one know when checkin would open?
We have not flown for over 10 years so a bit rusty to say the least and never been from gatwick.
We are traveling with cosmos would they know?
Thanks for any help you can give.

cruella_de_vile

I know with First Choice you can check in the day before (for £5 per person) it may be the same with Cosmos

richardw

You may be flying with https://www.flymonarch.com so have a browse.

monkeyspanner

If it's a charter it's normally 2 hours, but it depends sometimes on what the check-in staff feel like and how many other flights they are dealing with. Last time we were at Gatwick they delayed check-in on our flight causing a huge queue an inevitably we had people who thought that queues were not for them and arguements ensued. As you are travelling with a disabled companion I would ask the airline/airport if you can have assistance. When it comes to boarding you should be given priority and/or assistance.

jammy123

monkeyspanner wrote:

If it's a charter it's normally 2 hours, but it depends sometimes on what the check-in staff feel like and how many other flights they are dealing with. Last time we were at Gatwick they delayed check-in on our flight causing a huge queue an inevitably we had people who thought that queues were not for them and arguements ensued. As you are travelling with a disabled companion I would ask the airline/airport if you can have assistance. When it comes to boarding you should be given priority and/or assistance.

Thanks
I have got assistance for getting my mum on the plane.
It was more about trying to get us all seated together without the extra costs.

xzibit

Check-in will normally open 2-3 hours before departure, but if they are checking in other flights that leave earlier, you may be able to book in before.

Last charter flight I took was with first choice, and the only way I could get to the airport meant getting there 5 hours before the flight! Managed to check in straight away when I got there.

spender

We flew Monarch in January and check in was open 2 hours + before departure, however because we were going on a "packaged" holiday the seats were already allocated and could not be changed. however we were all sitting together and did not pay any extra.

If you are not sitting together argue the fact that if an emergency did occur you would have to look after a 4 year old plus your mum and if you were not seated all together this would cause problems. By the way I am not suggesting that an emergency would occur just trying to give a rational argument.

We have never paid for seats together and have always been placed together so I hope the same for you.

jammy123

spender wrote:

We flew Monarch in January and check in was open 2 hours + before departure, however because we were going on a "packaged" holiday the seats were already allocated and could not be changed. however we were all sitting together and did not pay any extra.

If you are not sitting together argue the fact that if an emergency did occur you would have to look after a 4 year old plus your mum and if you were not seated all together this would cause problems. By the way I am not suggesting that an emergency would occur just trying to give a rational argument.

We have never paid for seats together and have always been placed together so I hope the same for you.

Thanks for that.
We are also on a packaged holiday so fingers crossed it will be the same for us.
Thanks to everyone for their replies.
As usual Mse to the rescue