Airlines and airports tell you to arrive at the airport 2 hours in advance for a domestic flight and 3 hours in advance for an international flight. And then during peak times they warn you to show up even earlier than that. This is insane.
Here are the things you need to account for when arriving at the airport.
- The time to get from the parking lot into the terminal, if you park
- The time it takes to check you bag, if you aren’t just carrying on
- Maybe you think it’s still 1996 and you want to wait in line for a human to give you a paper boarding pass?
- And you have to go through security – if you’re listening to the airline’s or airport’s advice you probably don’t have PreCheck or CLEAR
- Plus it’s a long flight and you may want to stop for a snack, and if you go to the bathroom prior to boarding you’ll weigh less so the airline saves a little bit of money on fuel.
If you’re leaving on an international flight throughout much of the world you’ll have to go through departure immigration, as well as security. For the most part that’s not how it works in the U.S., Canada, or U.K. Extra time for a U.S. flight assumes you’re waiting in line, document check takes awhile, and maybe there’s some confusion over your eligibility to travel (visa issues).
Even with all of this, an hour or hour and fifteen minutes is probably fine for domestic flights – maybe a little more for international if you’re unsure your paperwork is in order – 90% of the time. But it’s the outlier cases for which the advice is given.
Since airlines and airports are giving advice, they are kinda (not really) responsible if it’s wrong. So they offer an amount of time that will cover 99.9%+ of cases. And that leaves you with far more time twiddling your thumbs by the gate, in the lounge, or milling about the terminal than you possibly need.
On the other hand, maybe it’s all a conspiracy? They just want you to shop.
the myth that you have to arrive two hours before your flight is propagated by airports to make you spend more money on overpriced snacks. you really only need to arrive 5-10 minutes before departure
— Sam Weinberg (@SAMUELJWEINBERG) December 7, 2023
This is possible! Or at least, this explanation is consonant with other incentives that those giving the (usually bad) advice face.
Airports generally take a cut of retail sales on top of per square foot rent payments. And the higher the sales, the bigger those lease rates they can charge. Airlines generally share in this revenue. High end retail in airports isn’t because the average passenger has a huge urge for last minute Gucci. It’s because passengers skew higher-income, they have time on their hands, and a percentage of expensive item sales adds up.
This is also why airports have removed moving walkways. It cost $1 million to take out the walkway in the Dallas – Fort Worth D terminal. People were simply passing by retail shops using the walkway instead of wandering in. A walkway was similarly removed at O’Hare for the same reason.
Passengers aren’t the customer at airports in fact airports usually don’t even know who’s in the terminal (cameras and facial recognition notwithstanding).
The truth is – either way – is that you do not need to show up at the airport as early as you’re told. If you’ve never missed a flight you’re spending too much time in airports.
You need to evaluate, in each case, what the consequence would be of missing a flight. Sometimes it just means you’d take a later flight. Sometimes you’d just skip the trip. And other times it is a ‘very big deal’ and so you want to show up early for a flight that gets you to your destination very early, giving you plenty of buffer if things go wrong.
So when should you really show up at the airport? Check in online or using your airline’s mobile app and then:
- If you have no elite status and no TSA PreCheck and you’re checking a bag, probably 90 minutes. That gives you half an hour to get through the line and check your bag, and half an hour to go through security. Then go straight to your gate. You do not need to be the first to board.
- If lines are long to check your bag, see if it’s an option to pay a Sky Cap outside to take your bags and give you your boarding pass if you need it.
- If security lines are especially long, ask passengers around you to cut in line because you’ll miss your flight. If the terminal has CLEAR they do signups on the spot, and it could be a good time to join. Look for a Priority line that may not have anyone in it
If you’re traveling with young children, adjust accordingly. If you’re traveling the Sunday after Thanksgiving, out of Las Vegas at the end of the Computer Electronics Show or Austin after Formula 1, adjust accordingly. If you’re flying out of Denver, my condolences, the airport and TSA have never managed to get that one right. But in the limit, 90 minutes should be fine for most, almost all of the time.
Personally, with status and CLEAR and PreCheck and no checked bags I like to leave home 75 minutes prior to departure, hitting the airport 50 minutes out. Even if security takes 15 minutes, and I’m heading to the other end of the terminal, I’m still walking up just after boarding has started – so I’ve got at least a 15 minute buffer.
I typically don’t go to the airport too early. I have taken thousands of flights. I almost never check in luggage. However, earlier this year I was shocked at the line to check in on a Delta international flight. I cheated by jumping the line in a sneaky way.
The good thing is now one can work productively in the airport. Pre-internet days it was harder, though one could bring a pad of paper and a phone card for the pay phone
@AC, don’t go away. Instead avoid Your Mileage May Vary, which has little news and acts like a Communist Party censor, modifying and / or not publishing some comments.
Totally agree with this advice.
When commuting domestically I leave my house 70 min before departure and even have 20 min at the lounge for a quick bite.
I was traveling BA in F class and showed up at 70 min before departure at SFO with 2 bags. I was told I was the last person to check thier bags. They seemed a little upset at that and said that I didn’t want to be in the F class lounge.
I’m like. Been there. Done it. I just want to get going instead of sitting doing nothing. I’m going to get food and drinks on the plane anyway. Cut off for baggage is 60min. So I still wasted 10 min of my time showing up earlier that needed.
I’d rather relax in a nice lounge than be rushed. But 3 hours is silly. I shoot for 1-1.5 depending on the lounge situation and the time.
This advice will work, unless you’re leaving from Denver…
Morning flights with JetBlue to premium priced carrier at Boston Logan can easily be a 3-hour time requirement. Totally dis functional set up and lines often out the door and into the driveway. TSA is also a mess with each lane different rules. Go through once, leave to street side and go back through and it is a different set of rules. The agents make it up as they go and they tell you their ideas are official policy.
I just drive or take Amtrak. Wait time for Amtrak is between 10 minutes and 24 hours – 10 if the train’s on time and up to 24 in many (most?) cases.
Driving works although being elder I usually forget where I left my car. Then comes the critical decision: North? or South? Doggone, it never gets easier . . . rats!
Be careful if checking a bag.
Especially international.
I had friends who arrived at SFO and got to the luggage check in Desk 1 hr 50 minutes before Departure. To PVR
Evidently a 2 hr cutoff was I. Place. They were denied and had to take a connecting flight and got to PV 2 days late
I believe those warnings are for infrequent fliers. But even if you are a frequent flier there are some instances where you need to allow extra time: there are some airlines that don’t issue mobile boarding passes and force you to check in at the airport; and some airports that get many infrequent fliers who slow down security lines, and nowadays, even one-flight-a year passengers spend the money to get Precheck; and if you, for some crazy reason, have to check a bag.
@Gary – You do unique and superb analysis of a lot of topics that are relevant to travelers. You also write the occasional piece of ridiculously funny satire. I thank you for that.
You also do a rotation of your favorite pet peeves, including but not limited to: arriving at the airport early, bare feet, perfect overhead compartment usage, checked baggage, and the TSA. Rather than watering down the overall high quality of your prolific posts, why not ease up on the gripes a little? One or two less posts a week that just go over the same ground over and over won’t hurt anyone. I’m not saying this to be rude or mean spirited but because sometimes you can’t see the forest, just a tree and I do greatly respect your work.
I shoot for 2 hours before take off. In 35+ years of flying I have never missed a flight. I would rather be early than be late and miss a flight. I don’t know of a time I have heard horror stories concerning one boarding when they got to the airport 2 hours early – seemingly ALL horror stories are about those who press their luck and decide to not get to the airport early. Think about that…
60 minute drive across south florida. Drive around to find Parking. Walk to kiosk have it tell you you need to see agent. walk over to check in and have to wait in line so airline can verify i have the correct visa. Security takes 30 minutes because 30 flights per night to Europe and south America.
Re: that twitter guy: 5-10 minutes before boarding, seems a bit more reasonable than 5-10 minutes prior to departure.
Meh. I have time, I hate being stressed out and I like moseying through the airport without a care. I use the online check in, the mobile boarding pass, etc… I never have any bags to check, because I only travel with a small backpack, and I usually have fast pass, because I usually fly business…. But, I still arrive pretty early. 2 or 3 hours early. Because, why not? I can grab a bite to eat or a coffee. Get a little work done. There are worse places to hang out than an airport, imo. The only time I don’t go super early is if my flight is extremely early in the morning. Then I cut it a little closer, but not much.
And, being early has worked out to my benefit a few times. For instance, I had a flight from MAD>LAX that changed planes through Heathrow (a nightmare) and the originating flight to Heathrow became delayed enough that I would miss the connection by over an hour at a minimum. But, I’d arrived to MAD early enough where BA was able to rebook me on an earlier flight that was leaving an hour before my scheduled flight and I was able to make the connection. Couldn’t have done that, had I arrived with less time to spare.
I always shoot for three hours for international and at least 2 1/2 hours for domestic at LAX. So many things can go wrong and time could be tight. A few trips ago, the Uber I was taking got stuck on traffic while on the way to pick me up so I ended up with less than 2 hours for an international flight. Fortunately everything went fine in the terminal so I was at the gate before the first passengers boarded. Years ago a friend dropped my wife and I off. Before going over there I didn’t know that he was going to make the trip on surface streets. We were on time but late enough that our chosen seats were given away so we flew the leg to Narita seated separately. Often on domestic flights I drive to Van Nuys, park and take the FlyAway bus from there. If the previous bus just left, there is a wait before the next one so exact timing is not always possible.
Getting a printed boarding pass from a machine doesn’t take too long. But I always get one. What if my phone runs out of battery? What if the airline’s computers go down and checkin at the gate has to happen by hand? I find this post very US centric.
I used to make security appointments using DEN Reserve, which worked, even though they don’t offer PreCheck. On my last trip (Sat. afternoon, two weeks ago) I noticed that DEN Reserve moved from the bridge security check point to the seemingly new west checkpoint. The west checkpoint had no lines at all, neither for PreCheck nor for standard security, so I skipped my appointment and went through PreCheck instead. Has DEN really gone better or was I just lucky?
Pre-retirement, I would have agreed with you; with 30+ trips per year, time wasted starts to add up. But now, at age 80, only making 6-8 trips per year, everything has changed. We no longer carry on our suitcases, and we plan our airport arrival to allow time for breakfast, lunch, or dinner based on when our flight leaves. We now take relaxing rather than fast trips, so getting to the airport early is not an issue.
I am one who likes to get to the airport early, like 2hrs+ domestic, 3hrs+ international, even with mobile check-in. I don’t like to stress, and you can do a lot of the same things at the airport that you’d be doing at home (like surfing the web) — it’s not time ‘wasted’. So why not? It saved my bacon my last international flight when the 45min airport subway system crapped out, we had to walk the 1000s of ft above-ground tracks in the dark to the next station (luckily it wasn’t too far), and then were dumped late night into an unknown place to fend for ourselves (on how to get to the airport). This was a non-English speaking Asian country. I luckily was able to share another airport passenger’s Uber ride (would I have been able to call Uber on my own in a non-English speaking country?), and just barely made it to my departing gate 30min before departure (I had sent my check-in luggage in the morning separately, thank God). The closest I had come to missing a flight prior (decades ago) was the last flight of the night, when I was screaming from down a deserted hallway ‘don’t close that jetway door’ — was the last to board on that one. Never want to come that close to missing a flight again.