Bergerac Airport opens 9.00am

[Llantony]

I've just tried to book a week's car hire at Bergerac Airport but can't because our return flight is 10.00am.  Check-in is at least 2 hours before, so we'd need to return the car by 8.00 am - but the airport car hire doesn't open until 9.00am - if it opens on time!

Does this mean we can't hire a car for the week?   I don't know whether it's possible to check in and nip out later to sort the car return.  Never had this problem at Toulouse, just had to park the car and drop the keys in if the hire desk was closed.

[Hoddy]

I don't think that there would be any problem at all with checking in first and then going back to hand over the keys. It's a very small airport; no long walks to anywhere.

On at least one occasion we've left keys in the box there, but that was some time ago.

Hoddy

[Spongebob]

Yep, check in, over to car-hire, back to check-in and through gates to security area.

Spongebob

[Llantony]

Thanks, I guess so.  It's just that when I tried to make a car hire booking and put in return time 8.00am, it wouldn't let me proceed with the booking, just saying Bergerac Airport was closed at that time.  I never had this problem when hiring from Toulouse and returning on an early flight.

[Jc]

They normally won't let you into the departure lounge till 30 mins. before flight whatever time you check in.

[derf]

[quote user="Llantony"]

Thanks, I guess so.  It's just that when I tried to make a car hire booking and put in return time 8.00am, it wouldn't let me proceed with the booking, just saying Bergerac Airport was closed at that time.  I never had this problem when hiring from Toulouse and returning on an early flight.

[/quote]

Change the return time to 9.30 the computer will never know[:)]

[Suze01]

[quote user="Jc"]They normally won't let you into the departure lounge till 30 mins. before flight whatever time you check in.[/quote]

It's been a while but in my experience at Bergerac (and Limoges) the outbound travellers are taken through to departures well before the inbound flight has actually landed because it's a small terminal building it saves having two lots of passengers milling about at the same time. Maybe it's changed.

[suein56]

[quote user="Llantony"]

I've just tried to book a week's car hire at Bergerac Airport but can't because our return flight is 10.00am.  Check-in is at least 2 hours before, so we'd need to return the car by 8.00 am - but the airport car hire doesn't open until 9.00am - if it opens on time!

[/quote]

Are you sure you need to be there 2 hours ahead of your flight time? My OH is flying from Lorient - another small airport - and has today been told to check in 3/4 hour before his flight. My daughter flew home to the UK from Nantes - a bigger airport - and was told to be there 1 hour before take-off - and that was the very day of the Heathrow bomb scare on 10 August!  Actually due to awful traffic jams around Nantes we were only there 45 mins before take-off and it was no problem.

Sue

[Llantony]

I'm pretty sure most airlines say check in at least 2 hours before the flight.

Also, come to think of it, we went from Bergerac last October - in the afternoon - and we were ushered out into the departure lounge very early as there is so little room at Bergerac.

Oh dear - so our only hope might be a box to return the keys!

[Cat]

If your flight departs at 10am, I would guess that you are flying to either Liverpool or East Midlands, both of which are Ryanair flights.

If you read the Ryanair booking conditions, you will see that checking opens 2 hours before the flight departure time, however, you will be able to check in later than that.  The check-in desk closes 40 minutes before the flight departure time.

"Standard opening of airport check-in desks is two hours prior to scheduled departure. Early check-in is highly recommended. Check-in closes strictly 40 minutes before the scheduled time of departure. We reserve the right to cancel your reservation and to deny you boarding if you do not comply with this Check-in Deadline indicated."

So you could either return the car at 9, and then go to check-in (as others have said, it's a tiny airport, so the distance involved makes it do-able, if perhaps a bit risky if there is a queue at the car hire desk). Or you could check-in earlier and then return the car before going through to the departure lounge, as entry to the departure lounge must still be available 40 minutes before departure. 

Hope this helps/

 

[Pilot]

Think about it.......

1.  The car hire companies know that they can only rent cars to arriving passengers if the departing passengers return them.

2.  They know the flight arrival times and departure times.

3.  They know about the need to check in.

4.  They cannot rent a car to a customer without the keys.

If there is not someone physically at the desk to receive keys from departing passengers, they always have some arrangement for keys to be dropped off, whether it's a box or a letterbox.

(I used to worry that if my flight was late I might arrive after the car hire desk closed.  Getting to Nimes more than two hours late one night I was pleased to see all the hire companies still open well past their closing time. Obvious why:- with almost 200 passengers arriving on the only flight of the day, business depended on getting the customers sorted.)