Flying Out via a European Hub: What to Know Before You Leave for Arlanda

Whatever the connection looks like further down the line, your pickup time is entirely about making the first flight out of Arlanda — that flight's own bag-drop closing time, its own boarding time. A tight connection at the hub doesn't change how early you need to leave home; it changes what happens after you land at the hub, which is a separate problem to plan for separately.

Whether your luggage is checked all the way to your final destination, or only as far as the hub, depends on your airline and how the itinerary was booked — check this directly with your airline before you travel, since it changes what you need to do at the connection (nothing, if checked through; a full bag reclaim and recheck, if not). This has no bearing on the Arlanda pickup itself, but it's worth knowing before you fly rather than discovering it standing at a baggage carousel with a tight connection running down.

Treat the first flight out of Arlanda exactly as you would any other departure: check that flight's own bag-drop closing time, and work your pickup back from that using your route's actual drive time, shown on the booking page. The connection at the hub is a separate calculation entirely, generally governed by the minimum connection time your airline or booking platform states — that's worth checking too, but it doesn't move your Arlanda pickup time.