How to check in online with Easyjet

With Easyjet there's only one way to check in, and it happens before you get to the airport. Online check-in is free, opens 30 days before departure and closes 2 hours before, on the Easyjet website or in the airline's app. There's no desk to fall back on: Easyjet describes itself as an online check-in only airline.

Below we cover when the window opens and closes, what you'll need to have to hand, how to work through the process, which boarding pass formats are accepted and which one isn't, and what the deadlines are once you're at the airport.

Before you start, make sure you have the following to hand:

• your booking reference and the passenger's surname, or the email address and password of the account you booked with;

• your passport, or whichever travel document your destination requires, since you'll be asked to confirm your details.

If you don't have the booking reference, ask whoever made the booking or the travel agent. Without it you can't check in online, and that's likely to hold you up at the airport.

On some routes Easyjet also has to pass your details to the local authorities before you fly, under a mandatory requirement known as Advance Passenger Information (API). Where it applies you'll be asked for your full name as it appears on your document, date of birth, nationality, gender where required, document number, country of issue and expiry date. You can supply it up to 2 hours before departure, though it's well worth doing it sooner.

Checking in takes a few minutes, on the website or in the app, and at the end you'll have your boarding pass.

How to complete Easyjet online check-in:

1. Go to the check-in area of the Easyjet website, or open the app.

2. Open your booking with the booking reference and the passenger's surname, or sign in with the email address and password you booked with. The first route works even if you booked an Easyjet holiday or bought through a third party.

3. Enter the details you're asked for, including your Advance Passenger Information if your route requires it.

4. Complete the check-in and get your boarding pass, to keep in the app or print.

Change your booking after checking in, by adding hold luggage or moving to another flight, and you'll need to check in again and get a new boarding pass. The one you already have stops being valid.

As we mentioned above, online check-in can be done on the website or in the app. Here's how the two differ.

The check-in window is the same for all Easyjet passengers. It doesn't change with the fare you booked, and it doesn't change if you paid for a seat.

What does make a difference is your seat. If you haven't paid for one, Easyjet allocates it when you check in. The airline says it does what it can to seat passengers who booked together next to each other, but it also makes clear that this can't be guaranteed, and you're least likely to be seated together if you check in shortly before departure. If you're travelling as a family or group without paid seats, you can improve your chances by checking in early.

Keep the online closing time separate from the bag drop hours at the airport: they're two different deadlines, and only the first one is in your hands from home. Bag drop runs to its own timetable, which varies from airport to airport, as we explain further down.

With Easyjet, checking in online isn't optional. Before you get to the airport you need to have completed it and to have your boarding pass with you, either printed or on your phone. There's no desk check-in to buy as an alternative, as there is with some other low-cost airlines.

If check-in doesn't go through because of a technical problem, Easyjet's advice is to try again later. Where the difficulty persists, ground crew at the airport can help you, but you need to ask before bag drop closes, and that time varies from airport to airport.

The other exception concerns infants. An infant travelling on your lap doesn't need a boarding pass at all. An infant with a seat of their own does need one, and in that case online check-in may not be available: Easyjet's advice is to be at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight.

At the airport

What's left to do when you get there comes down to your baggage.

• Travelling with hold luggage, you'll need the bag drop desk, and it has to be before the closing time set for your airport.

• Travelling with hand luggage only, and with your boarding pass already sorted, you can in most cases go straight to security.

Bag drop times aren't the same everywhere, and UK airports are among those that run to their own schedule*:

*Do check these times on the Easyjet website before you travel.

Coming home, the times are set by where you're flying from, and several popular destinations give you less room than you might expect: bag drop closes an hour before departure at a number of Mediterranean and North African airports. Easyjet publishes the full list by airport.

The gate closes 30 minutes before departure, wherever you're flying from. All of these times are worked out from your scheduled departure time, and unless you hear otherwise they hold even if the flight is running late. Missing them puts you at risk of denied boarding.

You checked in in good time, you got to the gate when you were meant to, and your booking was confirmed. Even so, a delay, a cancellation or an overbooked flight can still get in the way of your plans.

If that happens and the airline is responsible, UK261 entitles you to compensation of up to £520 per passenger, depending on how far you were due to fly. The rules cover every flight departing from a UK airport, whichever airline you're travelling with.

If your Easyjet flight departs from an airport in the EU, the equivalent European rules apply instead, under Regulation EC 261/2004.

Being turned away at the gate is covered too: our guide to denied boarding sets out where you stand. And to see what you may be owed for your own flight, start with our Easyjet compensation page.

Keeping track of your Easyjet flight

With check-in out of the way, all that's left is the wait. It's well worth keeping an eye on your flight status in the meantime, particularly if you have a connection to make or someone meeting you at the other end.

On the Easyjet website you'll find Flight Tracker, which shows arrivals and departures as they happen. The same feature sits in the Easyjet app, which sends you live updates on your own departure and arrival.

You could also use the free AirHelp app, which does one thing more: if your flight is delayed by more than 3 hours, is cancelled, or you're denied boarding, the app checks automatically whether you're entitled to compensation under UK261/EC 261 and lets you know.

With the AirHelp app you can:

• receive real-time notifications about delays, cancellations, gate changes and baggage reclaim;

• scan your boarding pass to add your flight quickly;

• share your flight status with whoever is picking you up;

• automatically check whether a disruption entitles you to compensation of up to £520;

• start your compensation claim straight from the app, with no paperwork.

The app is free and available on iOS and Android.