Loganair online check-in: deadlines, boarding pass and airport desk

According to the airline's published information, online check-in opens four days before departure for every airport on the network.

Closing times, however, depend on where you are departing from:

Two exceptions are worth remembering on the domestic network: at London Heathrow, the desk closes slightly earlier (around three quarters of an hour before departure) due to Terminal 2 constraints, and on the earliest morning flights from Scottish island airports, check-in only opens one hour before the scheduled time. These are the airline's hard cut-off times, not suggestions: once they pass, your seat is no longer guaranteed.

Online check-in is done through the Check-In Online section of the Loganair website, using your booking reference and passenger name. The same Manage My Booking area lets you review your flight details ahead of departure.

Before confirming, Loganair asks you to acknowledge a declaration: the passenger confirms having read and understood the restrictions on dangerous goods in cabin and hold baggage, declares themselves fit to travel, and confirms having completed any travel declaration forms that may be required. The list of prohibited items is published on the airline's website, under Prohibited Items.

Loganair also offers a mobile app. According to the airline's published information, not all functions are available on every flight: if the app doesn't cooperate, go back to online check-in on the website, then to the desk if the deadline is approaching.

In its conditions of carriage, Loganair defines the check-in deadline as the moment by which you must have completed check-in and received your boarding pass. In other words, simply being logged into the website by the deadline is not enough: it's the issued pass that counts.

Once you have checked in online, your boarding pass is made available either electronically or as a printable document. At some of the network's smaller airfields (Barra, Tiree, Campbeltown, the Orkney North Isles), ground staff may hand you a paper pass at the desk: turn up within the required time even if you already have your document.

If you are travelling on a flight marketed by Loganair but operated by a partner such as Widerøe, that carrier's own terms and conditions apply, including for the issuing of your boarding pass.

A valid form of identification is required at boarding. For international flights (Dublin, Donegal, Bergen, Esbjerg, Paris, Bordeaux), make sure you have your passport and any documents required by the destination country.

Online check-in does not replace dropping off hold baggage: you still need to visit the Loganair baggage desk, or that of its handling agent, before the check-in deadline for the airport concerned.

Cabin and hold baggage allowances depend on the fare purchased and the aircraft operating your flight: Loganair's fleet includes aircraft of very different sizes, from the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders based in Kirkwall for inter-island Orkney routes to the Twin Otters used to Barra, Tiree and Campbeltown, alongside the Embraer 145. Full allowance details are listed on the airline's Luggage Allowance page.

Online check-in unavailable: certain situations require a visit to the desk, including requests for assistance, travelling with an animal in the hold, groups, and some tickets issued by an agent. In these cases, aim for the desk's opening time rather than its closing time.

Missed the deadline: once check-in has closed (forty minutes before departure on domestic flights, slightly earlier at Heathrow, 1 hour before departure on international flights), the airline is under no obligation to accept you. Contact Loganair's Help Centre to find out about rebooking options.

Misspelled name, a connection to change, a seat to reassign: these requests go through Manage My Booking or customer service, ideally before check-in. If your trip includes several flights on a single ticket or on connected tickets, the whole journey forms a single contract of carriage: sort out the issue across the entire itinerary, not just the affected segment. If you would rather not keep an eye on the opening time yourself, you can hand your check-in over to iBoardingPass, which completes it as soon as it opens and emails you your boarding pass.

Deadlines vary considerably from one airline to another, and a single trip sometimes combines several carriers. To compare the rules, see the pages covering easyJet check-in, Jet2 flights, and Air Corsica's procedures, another specialist in island routes.