When Should You Leave Your Hotel for the Airport?

The sum, backwards

Starting from the departure time, three things get added. First, the time you need at the airport: check-in, bag drop, security, passport control. Around three hours is the figure we work with. Second, the actual driving time from your hotel to the terminal. Third, a buffer whose size depends on the route.

For a hotel in Lara that rarely adds up to more than four hours. For a hotel in Alanya the same sum looks quite different, because the drive alone is close to two hours — and for a morning flight, that lands you on a pickup time before breakfast.

Why there is no universal number

The three hours are a working figure, not a guarantee. What moves it in either direction:

• The airport. A compact terminal like Denizli is crossed faster than Istanbul Airport, where the walking distances inside the building cost real time.
• The airline. Desk opening hours and check-in cut-offs vary, and charter flights often run tighter windows than scheduled services.
• The season. In high summer the queues at the coastal airports' check-in desks are a different thing entirely from November.
• Traffic. In Istanbul, bridge and rush-hour traffic shift the driving time substantially; on the coast it is the town centres in peak season.

So we confirm a specific pickup time for your booking rather than quoting a rule that holds on four days out of five.

How the time is set and confirmed

You give us your departure time when booking; we work backwards and tell you the pickup time. If it looks too early or too tight to you, say so — it is your trip, and you know your own pace at an airport better than any formula does.

Early pickups

A six o'clock flight on a long route means a pickup in the middle of the night. Two things are worth doing the evening before: tell reception, so somebody is there and the night porter knows, and have the bags packed and standing ready. The hour itself costs nothing extra — there is no night surcharge.

If your return flight moves

If the airline changes your departure time, the pickup time changes with it. A short message with the new departure is enough and you get a new pickup time confirmed back. Because there is no flight tracking on this leg to absorb it, that message is the only route — unlike an arrival, where we see a delay ourselves.

If you have not booked the return leg at all yet, the route and its fixed price are in the price list, and it is booked the same way as the outbound journey through the booking form.

Common questions