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We often travel by plane, and book most of the flights very early in the morning, so we can sleep in the airport waiting for check-in.

However, we have bags (just carry-on bags that low-cost companies normally allow on-board) and we would like to book our accommodation until the day before the flight.

For example: If we fly on June the 17th at 6.00 in the morning, we would like to book our accommodation until June the 16th (check-out normally at 11.00 am).

That means that from 11.00 am to the time we get to the airport (basically during the night) we have to bring our luggage with us.
Is there any place to put the luggage during the day, so that we can get it back just before going to the airport (say, around 10.00 pm)?

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  • possible duplicate of travel.stackexchange.com/questions/6097/…
    – USER_8675309
    May 23, 2016 at 17:07
  • Why not sleep on top of your luggage? :)
    – Count Iblis
    May 23, 2016 at 23:41
  • Personally I would be more worried about my possession (cash and such) while sleeping at the airport. It is unlikely you can check in as far in advance as you mention, so you will be sleeping in the public lobby (if allowed) and anyone can walk into that area.
    – user13044
    May 24, 2016 at 1:35
  • Most airports have security cameras all over the place, and several (or many people sleeping with luggage. I've done it a dozen times. But the question is about not having to carry it around during the day.
    – WGroleau
    Mar 6, 2018 at 15:52

5 Answers 5

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You certainly have more than one option, when it comes to leaving your stuff so you can move around freely:

  • You'd definitely want to ask to the personnel of your accomodation (hotel, hostel, apartment, etc.) if they can store your luggage until you are ready to leave. Most of the accomodations offer this kind of service and usually have a locked room, where all the stored luggages are collected. I was never asked for a fee when I used this service.

  • If you are very close to the airport, you could store your luggage there. I don't know any airport that has no baggage-store. This is likely the most expensive option.

  • If you are near a train or underground station, you could look for self-storage areas, where for a couple of Euros you can lock your small trolleys or backpacks inside secure lockers.

I don't know any specific Info about France or Euro 2016, but what I wrote is pretty much international.

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    That means that if you loose a bag, they will throw it in the desert sand, right? :P
    – Noldor130884
    May 23, 2016 at 9:33
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    More and more reasons to go to Vegas :D
    – Noldor130884
    May 23, 2016 at 9:36
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    Plus, one can be almost certain that any lockers which are normally available will be locked or removed during the Euro, if they are not already due to the still ongoing state of emergency.
    – fkraiem
    May 24, 2016 at 0:22
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    What do you mean by "the Euro" other than the currency?
    – Joe
    May 24, 2016 at 3:36
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    Euro 2016. Anyway, I don't think they will remove lockers... In Munich they didn't during Oktoberfest, and yet I saw explosives-experts closing areas to force some of the lockers open, because they feared explosives inside...
    – Noldor130884
    May 24, 2016 at 5:39
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Most hotels and many hostels will have a space you can leave your luggage and collect it later. Enquire about this at the front desk. Some hotels even offer this service to non-residents (although usually for a fee in that case).

In the event that you can't make use of this, for example the hotel doesn't offer the serivce, you are staying in self-catering accomodation without a concierge, or the hotel is simply inconveiently located, then you have various options. Primarily what you are looking for is a "left luggage" or "luggage locker" service. These can often be found in or near to train and bus stations, as well as airports. There will be an assosciated fee, which can vary from trivial to fairly steep, depending on location. Another option is to enqure if your airline will let you check in your luggage early - some will take luggage up to 24 hours ahead of time. Depending on the airport location, the practicality of this may vary.

You can browse the tag on Travel Stack Exchange to see where questions have already been asked about the availablity of left-luggage and locker facilities.

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  1. Basically any hotel will keep the luggage for you - secured - until you pick it up. That might be inconvenient if the hotel is on the other side of town, though.
  2. You can check your luggage in right away. Often, airlines allow luggage check-in up to 24 hours ahead of time, but you should verify before you drag it to the airport; and again, that could be inconvenient.
  3. Other local storage depends of course on the city you are in... there can be no general answer.
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    Check-in opening times actually vary quite a bit. I know I've been refused check-in by Easyjet because I was too early, and I definitely wasn't that early (I think it was something like 2 hours before, which is already unusual for me). Long-haul full-service airlines are more likely to accept luggage early that low-cost or small carriers with limited presence at the departing airport.
    – jcaron
    May 23, 2016 at 16:31
  • Same experience as @jcaron. On budget and regular airlines.
    – MastaBaba
    May 24, 2016 at 0:19
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    Very few airlines will accept your bags 24 hours ahead of your first flight.
    – user13044
    May 24, 2016 at 1:32
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You don't mention what country, but I am assuming this is Europe and not USA as it would be very odd socially to hang out in an airport that long here and could even get you in trouble with TSA if someone decided to notify them. Nonetheless here are some options you can use (at least in the US):

  • Early or Late checkout. In your example you're leaving a bit too early to really use this, but many hotels quietly offer a early checkout option. Leave early enough and you pay less than if you stay the full day. You could stay until 8pm the day of the flight, and use this service to only pay for a portion of the cost of a full day. This is far more common at hotels near airports or resorts, and is dependent on the hotel itself.
  • Leave it in the rental car. Rental companies are pretty flexible about return times. So you can leave the luggage there. For most there is no difference in cost in returning the car at 6am or 8pm. This is not true for all rental companies though.
  • You can carry it with you. Get luggage that you can carry around easily. This depends a lot on how much you have to carry, but it's not unusual to see restaurants around airports with people in them with some carry on luggage.
  • My all time favorite is to UPS the luggage home. Depending on how much you have it may be more expensive then staying at the hotel. But it is a good way to get your luggage home.
  • Look for other ways to save money. Just gotta throw this one in there. At least here, getting to the airport that early would be a nightmare. Spending 6 to 12 hours in a US airport would likely drive me to tears. Renting a normal room for another night would would be around $40 at a cheap hotel. I would strongly recommend using the grocery store instead of a restaurant for a day or two and spending the $40, over trying to do anything in an airport for that long of a time. That said, US airports (and flying in the US in general) has really become quite bleak. There are no restaurants, no stores, no entertainment, nothing but chairs once your out on the concourse. Sitting still for 6 to 12 hours with bad WiFi, and not even a place to get a drink would be, well, ill-advised. Keep in mind that every airport is different and you may like the quiet time, etc etc.

So I would say, talk to the hotel, see if you can do an early checkout. Even if you can't, just try to save that money elsewhere on the trip. Whatever you do, try not to sleep in the airport. You may be left alone, you may be hassled, you may be arrested (specially if you're at the public part of the airport).

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    Note that most rental car companies rent by 24 hours. Often they will give you a 1-hour slack, but if you picked up the car at 9am you usually have to return it by 9.30-ish or you will pay another full day (and especially the big ones will be strict as they make their money off such things). Also, your luggage is probably not insured if you leave it in the car and then go out for coffee, and I guess in some places rental cars are a good target for thieves precisely because travellers often have suitcases with expensive stuff with them.
    – CompuChip
    May 24, 2016 at 7:46
  • Is sleeping in airports really illegal in the US? It's a common sight in most of the world, especially for people with 3-8 hour layovers. There's even a website about it: sleepinginairports.net . Also, your description of US airports doesn't match my recent expereinces of Denver, Salt Lake City and Newark, which all had loads of shops and restaraunts..
    – CMaster
    May 24, 2016 at 8:06
  • Very true, some companies will try the 24 hour rental game, others don't. Even inside the same franchise the rules seem to differ.
    – coteyr
    May 24, 2016 at 8:10
  • A lot depends on many factors not all ports are equal. For example at TPX the concorses are reachabe by tram, you would go to the hub for shopping. The problem is that after 9/11 getting through the tram and security means having a ticket. So the concorses have very little in ways of shops. As for sleeping, its not illegal exactly, but bumming around often is. So if it looks like your setting up camp in the public areas you will be asked to go to your gate, if your at your gate you cant get to the shops. Im not even sure the will let you to the gate 12 hours early.
    – coteyr
    May 24, 2016 at 8:17
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    I (along with several others that night) slept in JFK, and hung out there most of the next day. No one bothered me. At least not until the next day when I tried to tell security "That suitcase has been there for more than an hour with no one near it." He just shrugged and walked on. THAT bothered me!
    – WGroleau
    Mar 6, 2018 at 15:57
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There is a luggage storage service in Denver called LUGDEN. They are right by Union Station and offer luggage storage by the hour, day and week. Their website is lugden.com

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    This might be correct, but it's extremely limited in its application...
    – Glorfindel
    Mar 6, 2018 at 15:41

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