How Early to Arrive at London City Airport (and When 2 Hours Is Too Much)

By Ian Silva. Checked against londoncityairport.com on 19 September 2026.

The airport’s own answer is two hours. In practice, most people flying hand luggage only out of London City are through security and sitting down inside twenty minutes of walking in, and the airport itself says you can get from the entrance to the gate in under ten. The two-hour figure exists because of the mornings that go wrong, not the ones that go right. Here is how to decide which kind of morning you are having before you leave the house.

How early should you get to London City Airport?

Two hours if you are checking a bag, flying at peak, or you cannot afford to miss the flight. Ninety minutes is comfortable for hand luggage outside the rush. An hour works and regular flyers do it every day, but you are relying on the lanes behaving, and once or twice a year they do not.

The airport’s line on its own gates page is worth reading carefully: “You can usually get from kerb to plane in minutes, so there’s no need to arrive any earlier than the required two hours before your flight time.” That is not a recommendation to arrive two hours early. It is a recommendation not to arrive more than two hours early, which is a different sentence and the reason so many people are confused.

How long does it actually take to get through security at LCY?

Better than any of the other airports in the government’s own survey. The Department for Transport’s passenger survey, published in October 2025, asked more than 15,000 travellers at seven UK airports how long they queued. At London City, 81 per cent said five minutes or less, the best result of the seven, and fewer than one in a hundred waited more than twenty minutes. The UK-wide figure was 56 per cent.

The airport says its CT scanners halved average queue times when they went in, and that part holds up. The scanners are why liquids, laptops and tablets all stay inside your bag at City. What has not changed is the 100ml limit, which still applies at LCY, so a bag packed for Heathrow can still cost you time at the bin.

When LCY is busy, and when it is not

The pattern is a business airport’s pattern. Weekday mornings from about half six to nine are the crush, driven by the first wave to Amsterdam, Zurich, Dublin and Edinburgh. Late afternoon into early evening is the second peak as the same people come back. Mid-morning and early afternoon are quiet, and so is the first hour after the terminal opens.

Saturdays are the odd one. London City closes to flights at lunchtime on a Saturday and does not reopen until Sunday lunchtime, which is a planning condition, not a schedule choice. That compresses the whole Saturday operation into the morning, so a Saturday 11am departure can feel busier than a Tuesday 8am one.

Terminal opening hours are 04:45 to 22:00 Monday to Friday, 04:45 to 13:00 on Saturday and 10:30 to 22:00 on Sunday. The building shuts after the last flight. You cannot sit it out overnight.

Check-in and bag drop times at London City

Check-in desks on the ground floor open two hours before departure, and not before, so arriving three hours early buys you a seat in the landside cafe and nothing else. Online check-in with most airlines opens 24 to 48 hours ahead. The self-service kiosks sit outside the entrance next to the DLR station, which is genuinely useful if you are coming off a train with a bag to tag.

A few things worth knowing that are specific to City:

British Airways, KLM and Luxair passengers on flights leaving before 10am can drop bags the evening before; BA’s drop runs 16:00 to 20:30, and the other airlines set their own times. If you work in the City or Canary Wharf and you are flying first thing, that turns a two-hour morning into a forty-minute one.

Lufthansa and Swiss have an express bag drop in the middle of the terminal. British Airways has a self-service bag tag area just inside the entrance, and the drop itself takes about a minute once tagged.

Always check the airline’s own cut-off. The airport’s two hours is about the building. Your airline’s bag drop closes when it closes.

Is fast track worth it at London City Airport?

Usually not, and this is where City differs from every other London airport. The airport does not sell a general fast-track security pass the way Heathrow and Gatwick do. What you will find on a search are third-party meet-and-assist companies selling a greeter who walks you through, which is a different product at a much higher price and aimed at people who want a hand with bags and paperwork.

When four out of five passengers are through security in five minutes, paying to skip a five-minute queue is not a deal. Spend the money on getting to the airport reliably instead. That is where the time actually goes.

How long from the gate back to the door: the DLR numbers

The airport’s own figures for the DLR are 15 minutes from Canary Wharf, 17 from Stratford, 27 from Bank and 40 from Covent Garden. Those are train times, so add the walk at both ends and whatever the platform is doing.

The DLR is the reason LCY works, and also the single biggest risk to your morning. It is a small network with no parallel line. When it is suspended, and it is suspended more often than the Tube, there is no alternative rail route to the airport and the roads around the Royal Docks fill up with everyone who has had the same idea. If your flight matters, check the DLR before you commit to it.

Driving in: what it costs and how long you get

Since January 2026 the forecourt is charged. Drop-off is £8 for up to five minutes, then £1 a minute to a maximum stay of ten, monitored by number plate recognition, and you pay afterwards through the APCOA site by midnight the following day. There is no free drop-off zone on the forecourt and no park and ride shuttle. Picking someone up is separate and dearer: £10 for the first twenty minutes in the pick-up car park.

Those charges are per vehicle and they apply to taxis and private hire as well, which is worth knowing before you compare quotes. A London City Airport chauffeur booked in advance tracks the flight and times the arrival, so the clock on the forecourt is not being run down while anyone waits.

The morning that goes wrong

Here is the case for the two hours. In September last year, passengers reported an hour-long security queue at City that ran back down the escalators, with staff holding people downstairs and releasing them by departure time. The cause looked mundane: one scanner out of service, an unusual number of bags pulled for a manual check, and no spare capacity in a building this size to absorb either.

That is rare. It is also not something you can see from home. The practical answer is not to arrive two hours early every time, but to make the difference cheap: hand luggage packed to 100ml, boarding pass on the phone, drop the bag the night before if your airline allows it. Then ninety minutes is plenty and a bad morning costs you a coffee instead of a flight.

A note on the twenty-minute myth

London City built its reputation on a twenty-minute promise to business travellers, and you will still see it repeated. It has not been the official line for years and the airport now says two hours. The twenty minutes lives on because for a certain kind of passenger, with no bag and a boarding pass already on the phone, it is still roughly true. Treat it as a description of a good day, not a plan.

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Frequently asked questions

How early do you need to be at London City Airport?

Two hours is the airport’s guidance and the earliest check-in desks open. Ninety minutes is comfortable with hand luggage outside peak. The airport asks you not to arrive more than two hours ahead.

Do I really need to get to the airport 2 hours early?

At London City, often no. The Department for Transport’s 2024 survey found 81 per cent of LCY passengers queued five minutes or less for security, the best of the seven UK airports surveyed. Two hours is insurance against the rare bad morning, not the normal one.

What is the 45 minute rule at London City Airport?

There is no airport-wide 45-minute rule. Each airline sets its own check-in and bag drop cut-off, typically 30 to 45 minutes before departure at City. Confirm yours with the airline, because the airport will not hold the flight.

What time does London City Airport open?

The terminal opens at 04:45 Monday to Friday and Saturday, and 10:30 on Sunday. It closes at 22:00 (13:00 on Saturday), or after the last flight. Saturday is the short day, with flights finishing at lunchtime.

How long does it take to get from the DLR to the gate?

The airport says under ten minutes from the entrance to the gate. The DLR station sits directly outside, so realistically fifteen minutes from stepping off the train to sitting at the gate if the lanes are clear.

Is there fast track security at London City Airport?

Not as a general paid product. Third parties sell meet-and-assist packages that include an escort through security. With most passengers clearing in five minutes, there is usually nothing to skip.

Can I check in the night before at London City?

You can drop bags the evening before if you are flying British Airways, KLM or Luxair on a departure before 10:00 the next morning; BA’s drop runs 16:00 to 20:30, so check your airline’s own times.

The two routes people most often pair with an early LCY departure are London City to Canary Wharf and London City to Stratford, both a few minutes away on the DLR or door to door by car.

For terminal layout, lounges, parking and the rest, the London City Airport guide has the detail.