What does your airport routine say about your personality?
Whether you show up super early ‘just in case’ or cut it close says something about how they ‘manage anxiety’. But I’m not sure it says what the experts think it says.
Many early arrivers will try to take control of the situation and leave (way) more than enough time for all possible contingencies.
And many late arrivers will deal with the headaches of travel by avoiding thinking about it altogether, and then scrambling at the last minute.
Does arriving close to departure and not wasting moments of your life standing around at the airport signal avoidance, or just that you’ve got a routine down?
- Sure, airport parking might be a mess but some airports let you pre-reserve spots. And traffic could glitch, or public transit could break down, so maybe you have a bit of a buffer.
- And how much of a buffer may just depend on how big a cost it is to miss your flight, based on a combination of how important the trip actually is and whether your status gives you confidence you’ll make it onto a later flight?
Instead of claiming that your past experience may manifest itself in your airport routine (“That one time you missed a flight might have flipped you from late arriver to early bird”) perhaps it’s your overall experience – that you know what you’re doing – which leads you to be rational about the decision?
A regular weekly traveler spending an extra half our at the airport in each direction will spend 52 extra hours at the airport each year or more than 2 days each year unnecessarily waiting.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrives at the airport hours early (and, for that matter, flies coach). I think that’s the wrong approach, on both counts.
My default is to leave home 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to departure. That puts me at the curb of the Austin airport 50 minutes out. In Austin PreCheck and CLEAR are right inside the main doors of the airport. Even if security takes me 10 minutes to clear, I’ve still got a few minutes to reach the gate before boarding even begins. And the truth is I don’t need to board first! I just need to not board last, so I’m not stuck gate checking a bag. I follow a similar routine leaving my Arlington, Virginia office for National airport.
And at the end of the day if you’ve never missed a flight you’re spending too much time in airports. I’ll only add a larger buffer when it truly matters that I don’t miss that given flight.
I don’t fly for business. So for me missing a flight for vacation ( or on the return ) is a major headache. It means potentially one less day of vacation or asking for another day off for work that I don’t need. I would rather get there early, settle into a lounge , and try to start ( or end) my vacation as stress free as possible
I challenge this because there is NO comparison between you arriving on time to an airport and a person’s personality at all. Whom ever came up with that needs to have their head examined
@ Gary — I think it is all about what time you are comfortable with reaching the curb. I am comfortable with 55-65 minutes for domestic flights, less on days where the TSA screening shows short waits and more on days where the waits are longer. When away from home, it often boils down to hotel checkout time and the availability of a hotel lounge. If we have a 10 PM flight and we have to check out at 4 PM, we might arrive at the airport many hours in advance of our flight, or we might hang out in the hotel lounge for evening happy hour and then head to the airport. Following this routine, we’ve never missed a flight, and I don’t feel like we are wasting a bunch of time hanging out at the airport.
Had you shown up at LIM 50 minutes before departure on your SKY Airline flight, you wouldn’t even have been checked in before departure. My point is: there many factors involved, including how familiar you are with an airport and whether it’s an airline and airport efficient at moving travelers through.
@Gary, you seem to revive this topic every few weeks/months, and I’m not sure why. This time, you’ve dressed it up with “personality,” but your message is always the same – “you’re spending too much time in airports.”
Not everyone has CLEAR. Not everyone qualifies for TSA Pre. Not everyone gets to use priority security/check-in. Not everyone travels HBO. Not everyone flies in F/J/PY or MCE/E+/C+. Not everyone gets to use AUS. All of that adds time. Some people will lose $$$ if they miss their flight, while others will not only screw themselves but also their employer/client/family/friends if they miss theirs.
Waiting at the airport doesn’t have to be unnecessary – people can be productive while they’re there. JMHO.
The Austin airport ain’t SFO!! Frankly, I’ve never understood the ‘last-minute’ mentality of flying. Maybe because I gave up airline status years ago. I fly on upgrades, often with the thought that I’d be the first to be bumped. No idea if that’s true or not. With a laptop and e-reader, I don’t waste any time ‘standing around’ at an airport anywhere. I particularly enjoy nice long walkies in airports, so much to see and think about. Dump the rollaboard i the lounge and take off to cruise the terminals. Come back for a snack and get some work done. No downside at all.
Gary,
I wonder what your routine would be if you lived in Denver.
I HATE leaving from DEN. What a nightmare.
As a plane spotter, I always like to get to the airport two hours early. I also like to visit the lounge and walk around the airport. Some of my best exercise days are when I travel. I recently walked 15,000 steps on my trip to Atlanta.
Spot on Kevin. You can’t do that for Denver airport. You have to have a lot of extra time built in to make sure you make it on time for your flight.
I can’t speak of travel times needed to get to Austin, TX or Reagan National airports, or it takes to get thru security and to the gate there. But I can tell you that traveling by public transportation (MARTA) to ATL, and then getting to the gate, is a totally different calculation.
First, you have to allow for train delays, or railroad issues. So, I always build in at least one add’l train, as safety buffer.
Then, distances at ATL airport add many minutes just to get to the gate. And long lines at TSA create another unknown, for which time needs to be allocated.
Finally, like @John above said, I don’t travel for business, don’t buy refundable (or changeable) tickets; so, any hick-up in departure will cost me both time lost, and extra $$$ spent.
“If you’ve never missed a flight you’re spending too much time in airports.” I’ve heard that a lot from relatives who, on the other hand, go nuts when they miss a flight. Particularly when, unlike AUS-WAS, there aren’t multiple directs a day. I say that if you are missing flights because you cut it close, you are taking flights that it is not important that you take. I often need to be where I am flying to. Also, I fail to see how working on my laptop an hour in a lounge is wasted versus working an hour on my laptop at my desk.
All depends. Basic domestic travel: 50 minutes before take off. International long haul oh honey I’m bouncing from lounge to lounge all day.
So many factors go into when I arrive at any given airport considering all the variables that can exist on any given day. Flying out of HSV (my home airport) is fairly consistent except during Spring Break and the first two weeks after school gets out. 45 mins before departure is plenty of time to park, check bags, and get through security.
Airports like ATL, DFW, DEN, SFO, LAX, and CLT can be real crapshoots. I’ve stood in the Precheck Clear lane in ATL for 45 mins before. MCO has been a madhouse every time I’ve flown out of there with a number of people not knowing what security line to stand in. IAD, RIC, MKE, and FLL are fairly easy to get through.
Not gonna lie, coming home on a Thursday or Friday, I’ll allow plenty of time for the airports I know can be a crapshoot simply because I value my free time and don’t want to spend it trying to book another flight because I’m afraid some psychologist is going to label me controlling for getting to the airport early. I’d much rather have time to walk around on the right side of security relaxed rather than standing in a line that’s getting slower and slower the longer I’m in it and the minutes ticking by are starting to add up.
@Tennen +1
@ Gennady — If you are taking MARTA, I suggest leaving home now.
I’ve had the Ops agent redo weight and balance by showing up 13 minutes prior to departure. I got the last seat on the flight.
The biggest unknown is traffic but Google maps offers a good guide.
On a recent trip, I made a huge error by not accounting for how much time it takes to check in a bag on an international flight. I usually have no checked bags. I was going to miss the flight or cut it close so I cheated and cut in line when nobody was looking. (or they looked and did not protest).
Depends on which airport you leave from. I live in Portland, Maine. It’s a small airport but most daily flights depart between 5:30 AM and 7:00 AM. With limited bag check desks, the lines can get quite long this time of day if you’re checking a bag. I almost missed a 5:45 AM flight arriving at 4:45 AM only to find the bag check lines to be massive, with multiple flights checking bags at the same time. I now arrive by 4 AM for early flights if I’m checking a bag. To say “if you’ve never missed a flight you’re spending too much time in airports” is asinine. If you’ve missed a flight because you arrived too late, you’re an idiot.
I’m like Gary – I try to show up at the airport 50-60 minutes before my flight; if I have a checked bag then I’ll add 10 minutes.
If its NOT a “home” airport or one I frequent, then I will check the TSA times during the week for any trends and use that to base my time.
Example: Dallas Love – I know I need at least 30 minutes + for TSA screening.
LAX – Terminal 6 – I know I can do everything 65-70 minutes prior depending on when I leave
SeaTac – in the summer I add 20 minutes if arriving by light rail or walking; 40 minutes if arriving by car.
DEN – forget it. Fly out of COS and connect 🙂
YVR – 45 minutes for domestic is fine; 75 minutes for transborder (CA -> US)…. although I’ve had 1 flight where I did it in 35 minutes (already checked in, ran late)
My routines vary by airport, time of year/week/day/date, the anticipated check-in situation, how much insight I have into the airport security line situation, how I am getting to the airport and my tolerance for missing a flight.
What Berk said. ” I’d much rather have time to walk around on the right side of security relaxed rather than standing in a line that’s getting slower and slower the longer I’m in it and the minutes ticking by are starting to add up.”
Plus being an AvGeek who hangs out a few hours a month at the AUS Family Viewing Area, the Chase Sapphire and Delta lounges are great for planespotting. FlightRadar and LiveATC FTW.
@Gene – Ha-ha! MARTA has only failed me once, when some morons held the door for a slow-poke and broke it. Has to have train operator block out the door which took a while. Still made the flight, but barely….Originally, I was to spend 20-30 mins at the gate.
I don’t like dreading that I could have missed my flight and disrupt my plans while stuck in a line either checking bags or otherwise.
My old home airport was Austin and before PreCheck, I missed an important business flight out of AUS, even though I did not check bag and I arrived 90 min before. My current home airport is SEA and even with SkyTeam Elite Plus and OneWorld status, the elite lines at both Delta and Alaska are always long, and I flew international long trips often (read: check bags). I missed a flight already, from SEA to YVR, by arriving at the check in counter 50 min prior, due to 1 hr international bag cut off time.
I get that no one wants to spend un-necessary time at the airport, but I’d rather spend an extra 30 minutes sitting at the lounge or a cafe somewhere relaxing vs getting my plans disrupted. The peace of mind worth way more than calculating how much time one gets to waste at the airport. And if you’re worried about spending money inside the airport, then don’t. Pack a candy bar (or chips/whatever your fancy) and save.
I am fortunate enough to have Nexus, some elite status, APEC card and other foreign frequent traveler card, but I still like to arrive a bit early.
I too fly out of AUS. Used to be I could roll up with my TSA Pre/Clear and no checked bag 15 minutes before boarding and still have time to fill my water bottle, hit the bathroom, and stroll to the gate right before boarding started so I could get on, stow carryon, and relax. The situation has gotten worse and worse the last couple of years, since COVID, though and now I give myself a little more leeway, arriving 30 minutes before boarding. If I have time after security I get a coffee and sit and get work done. I should note- I am most often traveling for work on long-haul international and so there would be a really inconvenient cascade effect if I missed the first flight and couldn’t make my first connection.
For leisure trips solo (dive trips I reallllly don’t want to miss and whose destinations often only have 1-2 options a day) or with my family (because family = a little more chaos) I get there a little earlier, maybe 35-40 minutes before boarding. We’ve only cut it close with that timing one time when the airport was just insane at the holidays. I use it as an opportunity to get a snack in a lounge or from the amazing ABIA restaurants or to stretch legs before being on a plane for hours.
Gary, much appreciation, but time spent in an airport isn’t wasted to me. With lounge memberships or even a quiet corner it’s an oasis to get work done or just relax. I’m a 3 hour before guy. Would rather pop on my headphones, take a few calls, blow out some emails and then be able to relax on the flight. This is true even when I’m on vacation, lol. And I’d rather be in the club when a delay/xcl hits than having to call with the other zillion folks affected.
@derek. Good to know that your time is much more important than EVERYONE else’s in the line you cut into. Karma can be a bitch lad.