I get why you might want to take this approach but you need to find out how far in advance you can check in the bags. Four hours sounds familiar /might be standard.

This is how I usually do the airport thing...do online checkin; husband drops me and most or all of the kids off; we do bag check and get in security line while he parks the car; then he meets us in security line. It's pretty quick that way. We don't need him for bag check because we never have the 2 bags per person in our family.
You could probably check the bags in yourself a couple hours before the flight then go home for the kids. The question is whether the electronic kiosks will let you check in multiple people so you can get all the bags checked for free w/o those people being with you.

This is how we do it.....husband dropped me off at the departure terminal. Get all the bags onto one of the luggage carts. Prepaid luggage before leaving the house. I will go drop the bags off at the counter. Meanwhile, hubby and kids wait at the cell phone waiting area. Once I am done with bags, I will text them and they will come pick me up from the departure terminal and we will go park the car at the economy lot with 2 kids in tow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are traveling next month with two kids and I'm wondering if anyone has successfully checked in early, gotten the tickets, checked bags etc. without the kids prior to the flight and then go back to the airport with the kids closer to the flight time to get through security. A friend of mine told me she has done this but I have never heard of it before! We have a late flight 11 PM so it would be awesome to let the kids sleep at home as long as possible before going to the airport. Maybe only certain airlines allow this? Any insight would be great thanks.

Sounds like you are taking an international flight, correct? You may have issues if this is the case.

yes
-OP

Anonymous wrote:We are traveling next month with two kids and I'm wondering if anyone has successfully checked in early, gotten the tickets, checked bags etc. without the kids prior to the flight and then go back to the airport with the kids closer to the flight time to get through security. A friend of mine told me she has done this but I have never heard of it before! We have a late flight 11 PM so it would be awesome to let the kids sleep at home as long as possible before going to the airport. Maybe only certain airlines allow this? Any insight would be great thanks.

Sounds like you are taking an international flight, correct? You may have issues if this is the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:im not referring to tsa precheck because that requires the kids to be there.
my friend says her husband went to airport and checked the bags in while kids were at home sleeping and then then they all went back just for the security part.

yes you can do this for some airlines. I did it for Delta. I was able to check bags 4 hours early.

thank you! any other airlines?
-OP

Can't the skycap just take your bags when you pull up? I don't see what the big deal is? Checking bags is a non issue. Security is where the real hold up is.

I can't imagine why this is helpful - you could do the exact same thing much less chaotically by dropping one parent with all the bags off while the other parent goes to park and comes in with the kids. If one parent can't handle all the kids alone, the bag-check-drop-off parent could walk to the garage and help bring the kids in. Then the other family members could get their tickets. The big issue I see with this is that with only one person checking in, you'd pay way more in bag fees because all checked bags would be applied to one parent. Maybe just drop one parent off with the kids and get the curbside check-in to do the bag check?

Anonymous wrote:im not referring to tsa precheck because that requires the kids to be there.
my friend says her husband went to airport and checked the bags in while kids were at home sleeping and then then they all went back just for the security part.

yes you can do this for some airlines. I did it for Delta. I was able to check bags 4 hours early.

It really wouldn't save much time - all you are saving is bag check. You can get your boarding passes online up to 24 hours in advance. If you do curbside check-in for your bags it takes 2 minutes. At 11 pm most airports are pretty quiet so even inside there shouldn't be much of a line.

Precheck helps with security but has nothing to do with bag check, which seems to be your concern.

im not referring to tsa precheck because that requires the kids to be there.
my friend says her husband went to airport and checked the bags in while kids were at home sleeping and then then they all went back just for the security part.

Would it be any different than checking in online 24 hours (or less) before your flight? I think most airlines do that now.

Anonymous wrote:You could just apply for TSA pre-check.

I think TSA pre-check does not apply to reservations made before you were approved for pre-check.

You could just apply for TSA pre-check.

We are traveling next month with two kids and I'm wondering if anyone has successfully checked in early, gotten the tickets, checked bags etc. without the kids prior to the flight and then go back to the airport with the kids closer to the flight time to get through security. A friend of mine told me she has done this but I have never heard of it before! We have a late flight 11 PM so it would be awesome to let the kids sleep at home as long as possible before going to the airport. Maybe only certain airlines allow this? Any insight would be great thanks.