Last updated: 31 October 2026.
Lufthansa offers online and app check-in, automated check-in, late-night bag drop, self-service bag drop kiosks and counters. Counter and bag drop deadlines differ by airport, so look up your airport's deadline before you travel.
30 hoursbefore departure when online and app check-in open
23 hoursbefore departure when automated check-in sends your boarding pass
23 hourslatest evening-before bag drop (late-night check-in)
48 hourshow early to ask for wheelchair help
Key times
- Online or app check-in
- Opens a day and a half ahead; you print or save your own boarding pass
- Automated check-in
- The pass arrives by email or text, 23 hours before take-off
- Late-night check-in
- Check in from 30 hours out, then leave bags at a kiosk the evening before (no more than 23 hours ahead)
- Bag drop kiosk
- Scan the boarding pass you already hold (phone, online or counter)
- Cut-off times at your airport
- Vary by airport; shown under Baggage drop-off on your boarding pass or in the app under Baggage
Online check-in
- Look up your booking by surname and the 6-character reference or your ticket number, sign in with a Travel ID (or create one), add the travel details and documents the destination needs, and choose seats and extras.
- If your ticket came from a travel agency or tour operator, there is a separate online check-in using their booking details.
Automated check-in
- Travel ID profile users who are also Miles and More members have it switched on on Schengen-area flights that were booked at least a day ahead of take-off. You can turn it off in your profile.
- Others can register through the link in the booking confirmation; it then covers only that confirmed booking.
- It is not available on flights that are not fully inside the Schengen Area; you then receive a normal check-in invitation. Seat changes and cancelling check-in are possible via the link inside your mobile pass.
Late-night check-in
- Offered at selected airports, mainly useful for groups, families with small children or lots of bags.
- For the USA, Canada and Mexico it uses special check-in areas. Air Canada flights out of Munich and Frankfurt are excluded. On US-bound flights every traveller must attend in person; flights from North America are excluded for security reasons.
- Groups: a tour group needs its tour guide with official photo ID; a small group such as a family can use one member carrying everyone's ID documents. Pets are accepted only on the day of the flight.
Bag drop
- Kiosks work at supporting airports; at some locations app, online or kiosk options are unavailable, so follow the airport monitors to the counters indicated.
- You receive a digital receipt by email and in the app, can track when the bag is loaded, and at Frankfurt and Munich the app tells you the baggage carousel on arrival.
Questions travellers ask us
When does online check-in open?
Thirty hours ahead, according to Lufthansa's main page.
Can I leave bags the evening before?
Yes, at airports offering late-night check-in, up to 23 hours beforehand.
Where do I find my airport's deadline?
On your pass, in the Baggage drop-off section, or in the app.
Baggage Allowance is an independent information site and is not part of Lufthansa. Check the airline's own pages before you travel.
1 question and answers
Check in allowance is 1 bag upto 23 kgs and whose sum of dimensions does not exceed 158 cms.