Earliest time you can check in a bag with Virgin?

Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Posts
15,668
Qantas
Platinum
Virgin
Platinum
SkyTeam
Elite Plus
Star Alliance
Gold
Does anyone know how early Virgin Australia accepts checked luggage for a domestic flight?

E.g. could I drop my checked bag with VA at SYD around 10am for a 4pm departure?
 
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

I once did it at SYD at 7am for a 7pm departure to PER. The check-in desk didn't bat an eyelid at me doing it, printed me a board pass and baggage receipt and noted I'd need to check the gate closer to departure.
I then flew SYD-CBR-SYD for work for the day.
 
I once did it at SYD at 7am for a 7pm departure to PER. The check-in desk didn't bat an eyelid at me doing it, printed me a board pass and baggage receipt and noted I'd need to check the gate closer to departure.
I then flew SYD-CBR-SYD for work for the day.

If you were on the one PNR you could have checked it SYD CBR SYD PER as well I guess?
 
In contrast to announcements over the tannoy at Sydney a couple days ago saying ‘jetstar passengers are reminded bag drop only opens two hours before departure. It’s now 4.15pm, we are only accepting bags for flights departing by 6.15pm. If you flight is after 6.15pm you need to wait’.
 
If you were on the one PNR you could have checked it SYD CBR SYD PER as well I guess?
In this case it was separate PNRs. I'd booked a trip over to Perth months beforehand for personal reasons and then had to make a day trip to Canberra on short notice for work. I did have a back up plan if VA hadn't been able to accept the luggage that early, which was to drop it off at the Baggage Storage for the day. However VA were totally happy to accept it.

I'd been pretty worried that if there'd been a storm or something I might end up stuck in Canberra and missing my flight to Perth, but it all worked out fine.
 
In case anyone is wondering, I asked at SYD T2 this morning and for that airport, you can check in any time from 4am.
Have done this at MEL many times but wasn’t sure if it was the same elsewhere.
We quite often go to Sydney for a few days for the NRL but go to Melbourne for the AFL on the way. We fly ADL-MEL and then check our bags in for the MEL-SYD flight later in the evening and then head in to town for the football
 
In contrast to announcements over the tannoy at Sydney a couple days ago saying ‘jetstar passengers are reminded bag drop only opens two hours before departure. It’s now 4.15pm, we are only accepting bags for flights departing by 6.15pm. If you flight is after 6.15pm you need to wait’.

Yep...

And QF only used to accept bags up to 6 hours before departure for domestic. Not sure if that's still the case as I haven't tried to check in that early with QF for a while.
 
Previously had one of the first flights of a sunday ADL-MEL and the 2030 departure MEL-PER.
two separate bookings. Was around 12-13 hours in MEL IIRC.

I can't remember the exact specifics but at ADL check in they would not/could not check my bag because it was too long in MEL between my arrival and my next departure.

No problems - as soon as I arrived in MEL I collected my bag and immediately took it to check in ~12 hours early for the evening MEL-PER service and was no problems at all. The contingency was going to be paying for baggage storage at MEL for it but thankfully not needed.


On another time I had a friend arriving into PER around 1000 and I was flying out that evening ~1830. Drove to the airport and checked in my flight with bag drop about 8 hours early, then picked up my friend and spent the day together. Got stuck in traffic getting back to the airport that evening when I arrived to PER T1 check-in was closed and deserted, ended up 2nd to last person on the plane (avoided getting paged.).
 
That's really with knowing, thanks!

i’ll ask the same question at HBA next time I’m there.

Please let us know what you discover: i suspect you won't get any joy, as I believe the check in counter basically opens and closes for each flight rather than staying open all day. But I hope I'm wrong!
 
Please let us know what you discover: i suspect you won't get any joy, as I believe the check in counter basically opens and closes for each flight rather than staying open all day. But I hope I'm wrong!

Be there next Friday; back to BNE.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.

Staff online

  • NM
    Enthusiast
Back
Top