Glossary · Timing
Cut-off
The deadline to deliver cargo and documents ahead of the flight.
Technical definition
Cargo (and documentation) acceptance deadline set by the airline or terminal for a given flight. There are usually separate cut-offs for physical cargo, documents and perishables, and they move earlier during peak season.
In plain terms
The cut-off is the deadline for your cargo and documents to reach the terminal before a flight. Miss it and your cargo doesn't fly.
How it works in Chile
During the cherry peak the cut-off is the critical bottleneck: saturated terminals, truck queues and tight windows. Missing the cut-off can mean rebooking and breaking the commercial chain.
Common mistakes
- Working the cut-off back from departure time instead of acceptance time.
- Not anticipating that cut-offs move earlier in peak season.
- Incomplete paperwork that arrives after the document cut-off.
How it connects to Skymetrics
Skymetrics centralizes document status per shipment so you hit the cut-off without surprises, and SkyTracking flags each flight milestone.