London Heathrow Airport is urging customers not to arrive too early for flights.

It warns that if they do, they could cause congestion at the UK’s busiest airport.

In a tweet posted on Friday morning, the airport said passengers should arrive two hours before a European flight and three hours before a long-haul flight.

It added: “We ask passengers not to arrive earlier than these times as this may cause unnecessary congestion in the airport.”

Heathrow’s traffic in September rose above 2019 levels for the first time since February 2020, but it insists there’s no need for passengers to arrive earlier than recommended for flights.

Passengers departing from Terminal 3 can now book free time slots for security as part of a Heathrow trial. Slots can be booked for groups of up to five, up to three days before departure, and passengers can arrive at security 15 minutes before their allotted time.

Slots must be booked no less than an hour before short-haul departures and 90 minutes before long-haul flights.