[SenatorGold]

I’m flying from London City this coming Friday. It’s been a while since I last departed from there. Heathrow (T5 at least) requires passengers to have entered airside no later than 45 minutes before departure. Does London City operate a similar policy?

If not, in practice how long before departure should I aim to have cleared security?

Advice much appreciated,

[hawkonaplane]

The security “cut-off” is unique to LHR I believe. At LCY, if security think you can make your flight before boarding closes, they’ll let you through. Fairly small airport so if you’re hand baggage only and already got a boarding pass, you can plan to arrive 40 minutes before, 30 even.

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SenatorGold

[workandtravel]

@hawkonaplane is right – London City doesn’t have a strict cutoff like Heathrow. As a small airport, security is usually pretty quick. I’d aim to get there at least 40 mins before just to be safe, especially on a busy day. But if you’re only carrying hand luggage, earlier could probably work too since you can dash straight to your gate.

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SenatorGold

[SenatorGold]

@hawkonaplane and workandtravel

Thank you, both – really much appreciated. This helps me greatly with planning my time.

[sparkyflier]

Hi Senator Gold. Personally I am always cautious when it comes to arriving at airports and believe in getting there early. Also getting to LCY on the DLR can take longer than you may think. I used LCY a few months ago and the security queue was quite slow – even with liquids and laptops allowed to stay in the bag, as not all x ray machines were being used…

So I would suggest 60 minutes just to be safe..even if you are cabin bag only.

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SenatorGold

[SenatorGold]

Hi Sparkyflier, many thanks for your advice. I am also an early arriver at airports. You are quite right about the DLR. A few weeks ago when I was travelling from London City into central London service on the DLR was limited and I had to take a circuitous route involving the DLR, Jubilee and Picadilly lines to get to WC1.

[LuganoPirate]

A far cry from the day LCY first opened and you could arrive at the airport with just 15 minutes to spare, and still make the flight!

[Author]

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