United Airlines has updated its ‘contract of carriage‘ to double the amount of time you have to show up in advance at the airport, though they aren’t enforcing this yet.
As Live and Let’s Fly reported,
- For domestic flights (with or without checked bags) passengers must check-in at least 60 minutes prior to departure. This is increased from 30 minutes – a literal doubling.
- For international flights (with or without checked bags) passengers must check-in at least 75 minutes prior to departure departure. This is increased from 60 minutes.
Some specific airports have different check-in requirements.
According to United, they are not enforcing this but might in the future. United.com hasn’t been updated to reflect any changes.
We’ve updated our Contract of Carriage to allow for possible future changes. However, at this time there has been no change to the check-in times on united.com. Any changes in check-in times will be posted there before they go into effect at the airport.
Matthew Klint suggests that the airline needs to update its Contract of Carriage now, since tickets they sell today may be for travel at the end of May 2025 (and the Contract of Carriage in place at the time of purchase applies to those tickets). He speculates that United could make this change as soon as June 2025.
Basic economy customers aren’t even allowed to check-in online or using the airline’s mobile app. That means anyone traveling basic economy must arrive at the airport early enough to make it to the front of the line an hour before departure. And however long that takes depends on United’s staff, how many tickets they sell, and how many kiosks they provide at a given airport. You won’t know in advance!
Sometimes online check-in fails for certain itineraries. Or lines to check bags are long. United is working to be a premium carrier, and cater to customers with a high opportunity cost of their time – people who show up at the airport later because they’re busy. They’re working.
This is a move that certainly works for the convenience of the airline, but is customer-unfriendly. Good leads the way? Good for whom?
It’s a good CYA strategy
Ultimately, it’s a way to control overbooking payouts. We have an overbooking problem, let’s see who didn’t arrive early…Problem solved! Trust me, AA did that to me once years ago. Then offered to sell me my own tickets for 4x what I had paid. My own fault, but I didn’t appreciate the attempted extortion. Found another way the next day.
FWIW, that international check-in time means checking in on your first leg, even if it’s a domestic flight.
A bit earlier this summer, my domestic flight to the North American gateway airport was delayed due to a mechanical probelm and I was due to continue onto my transatlantic (TATL) flight on a separate ticket. I had checked in for the flights online the night before and so had all the boarding passes, but there was the issue of checked-in baggage to claim and then get the bag checked in for the TATL ticket. Because of the incoming delay and with the baggage check-in cut-off time for the TATL flight being 60 minutes before scheduled departure, I was looking at making a choice between ditching the bag and risk losing it, ditching the bag and making back up plans to have it recovered, or paying for new tickets. Fortunately the European carrier at the US airport allowed me to check in my bag even as I showed up at the check-in desk with less than 60 minutes to go to scheduled departure. For what it’s worth, the bag made it onto the flight and I even had more than enough time to pick up food and drop into a lounge and still end up waiting to board the flight. I say this hoping that the US airlines don’t become as inflexible about the cut-off times as they are inclined to for their own cost-control reasons.
More people need to realize that these check-in cut-off times are getting worse and worse for customers because the airlines demand it as part and parcel of trying to boost the airlines’ earnings and revenue.
This was on DD a few days ago https://www.dansdeals.com/more/news/airline-news/united-changing-airport-checkin-cutoff-time/
Everyone ought to show up over 2 hours ( 120 minutes ) before domestic , and over 3 hours (180 minutes ) before international . It is common sense .
For the majority of my international flights as a hand-baggage-only passengers in the last ten years, I showed up at the airport about 40-60 minutes before departure. For the majority of my domestic flights in the same period as a hand-baggage-only passenger, I showed up at the airport about 25-45 minutes before departure. But that is flights without luggage to check-in and mostly when the boarding passes are already created before I get to the airports. In the 10 years before the TSA monstrosity was created, the majority of my domestic trips in the US had me showing up at the airports 15-35 minutes before departure.
If I had to show up 2-3 hours before departure, I would reduce the number of scheduled flights on common carriers or miss way more flights. It’s ridiculous to require frequent flyers to show up 2 hours before domestic flights and 3 hours before international flights just because the airlines and the governments can’t get their act together.
There are too many things that can go wrong that are out my control to arrive 30 min before a flight . Totally agree with @Alert. I’m at the Airport 2 hrs before a flight at the large airports and 90 min at smaller airports.
I live 90 minutes from the airport, so If I can drive to a location in five or six hours, I just do that. Otherwise, it is a 90-minute drive, 2-hour wait, 1-hour flight, and 30-minute airport escape – a total time of 5 hours. Flying used to be relaxing, but now it is more stressful than driving.
I began my very frequent flying days as a DC-NYC/NYC-DC commuter in the main. Eventually, the TSA hit and then it was too much Amtrak as the airlines cut back on schedules, capacity and jacked up prices and there was all the nonsense of dealing with what the TSA was throwing at passengers on any given day. It would be awesome if we could have a bunch of 120+ mph train routes, but the priorities of our politicians and the nature of our public is such that I don’t expect much to come in that regard when it comes to us. The same way I don’t expect things to get better with checking in for flights from US airports as long as we have the twin demons of the greedy airlines and the DHS and DHS fanboy mentality as it is.
As the old maxim goes, if you never miss a flight you’re spending too much time in airports. Sure, arriving two hours in advance of a domestic flight may mean you don’t miss a flight, but if you travel frequently and do this every time, it means you spend a lot of time at the airport instead of doing something more interesting or constructive.
“Everyone ought to show up over 2 hours ( 120 minutes ) before domestic , and over 3 hours (180 minutes ) before international . It is common sense .”
Nonsense. I usually just get out of bed 3 hours before takeoff. ANd I live an hour from the airport. I try to arrive about 1 hour before departure. In the rare cases where I don’t have luggage to check, I get there even later.
Who has the time to sit at an airport for 2 hours before their scheduled departure? Not a chance.
” It’s ridiculous to require frequent flyers to show up 2 hours before domestic flights and 3 hours before international flights just because the airlines and the governments can’t get their act together.”
This always makes me wonder if any frequent fliers actually do this.
That said, I charted out the various steps once. At my home airport, if you are flying southwest or American and are checking bags and don’t have any sort of status, you might want to get there at least 90 minutes, especially if you part in economy and take a shuttle.
“Who has the time to sit at an airport for 2 hours before their scheduled departure?”
The better designed an airport, the less time passengers need to spend in it.
@Dale – He was making an outrageous statement to get a reaction. It’s what he does.
I honestly think that if Airline companies try to play this game with passengers,then what is gonna happen is that your are gonna Seriously piss off your customer base travellers and they are just gonna say “Screw AA” and they will go with a more leaniant carrier and once more & more customers do that,then AA will have to walk back there stupid plan
My prediction for the secondary line of whining: “Now that the airlines make everyone show up earlier, I’m going to have to share MY lounge with even MORE people whom I consider beneath me!”
This is pretty f-d. 90% of the time it is probably not an issue as you can checkin online. But 10% of the time you cannot due to a random SSSS, passport check or some other annoyance. So then you have to wager on how long the line will be at the airport and probably arrive 2 hours before your flight when normally 1 hour would be sufficient.
This is simply a way for UA to eliminate DBC and VDB compensation, and maybe EU 265?
I’m able to check in with the United app on a basic economy ticket. That may not have been possible in the past, but it works now.
@Robin – Pssst… Wrong airline. United is the one doing this. I agree with your reasoning though.
How is this statement an outrageous statement: “It’s ridiculous to require frequent flyers to show up 2 hours before domestic flights and 3 hours before international flights just because the airlines and the governments can’t get their act together”?
The airlines increase the check-in cut-off times and MCT after the airlines and governments have done things to make the airports more of a variable and extreme mess than they used to be. This then requires passengers to spend more time on average at the airports because of that. It’s ridiculous that frequent flyers are made to pay up more in time when it’s the going-cheap airlines and governments that made the airport messes what they are and then drive these customer-unfriendly cut-off time changes to make passengers pay for the decisions made by the airlines and government actors.
So people cut it close then complain when they don’t make their flight.
We try to go through security a half an hour before boarding starts but then again we have status, a million miler and we have a timed pretty well. It’s been over 30 years, closer to 40 since I’ve ever missed a flight but we also check in 24 hours ahead of the flight online
I swear if they double it again to 2 hrs I just might support high as speed rail between us cities 500 miles apart. Or maybe not. I am American thawt leader.
I live 15 mins from a major hub and have precheck. It’s pointless for me to be at the airport any earlier than I have to be. I can make it to the gate usually 10-15 mins after dropping off checked luggage at bag drop. 60 mins for domestic and 75 for intl is just a waste of time. From experience they can get your bag onboard even at the current minimum times. I’ve never had a bag stranded.
Why in the world would United allow passengers flying from my home airport to ORD/EWR/IAD/etc. as a domestic flight checkin 30, now 60, minutes before, and expect me on the same flight connecting to an international flight checkin 60, now 75, minutes before? What extra logistic challenge do I pose?
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!
International travel document check. That can take more time for agents to do at the airport than when the agents don’t have to do it because it’s a domestic itinerary.
Absolutely ridiculous. I don’t travel for business, so I have nothing on those people, but I do travel at least 10 return flights every year. A third of which is usually international.
If I don’t have a checked bag I’m showing up 45 minutes before departure. It takes me 25 minutes to get from being dropped off to the farthest gate in the airport. That includes going through security. If I walk briskly, I can cut that to 20 minutes. It’s almost always timed perfectly so that my group is boarding as I arrive. I have never missed a flight. In what world would I want to be there for two hours sitting on my thumbs?
International I only arrive with enough time to get my bag checked before the cutoff. If I don’t have a bag, I treat it the same as domestic. The process isn’t magically different because of the destination.
This has been my process for years. It helps that I get through security quicker, I know where each gate is in my airport without having to check, and the airport is relatively small (PDX).
I’m early 3 hours international, 2 hours otherwise. Work, relax at gate. Only one time it was crazy. The airline /airport kept changing the gate… Long walk too. We walked between 3-4 times until we said. Screw this and then just sat at a gate till 10 min to bording. (Copenhagen Airport, Norwegian was the carrier)
Almost ended up screwed by this last week, had an Air Canada flight get canceled, rebooked me to United. Couldn’t check in via app or website, arrived to airport and attempted to check in 57 minutes from departure and agent almost wouldn’t let me. Had to get a supervisor called over.
Blame the TSA for not properly staffing the security checkpoints at many UA hubs for this policy. The amount of time one needs to clear security is just ridiculous at some of UA hubs, especially DEN and EWR. UA must have seen a lot of people missed their flights due to people getting stuck at TSA check points and this policy is most likely aimed staving off that problem
Domestic check in time at every hub was already 45 minutes, we’ve had many occasions where bags checked in at the cut off time miss flights because they are held up a screening or get delayed in the system due to sortation issues, or just simply human error. More buffer is better.
At different airports the time is already longer. Flew United recently from YYZ to ORD and was required (stated on boarding pass) to have bags be dropped off at least 90 minutes before the flight. Yeesh. Takes away all benefits of having Nexus.
convenience of airline? really?.you want your plane be on time? 1 hour before domestic sounds perfect,gate restric check in 30 minutes before gate agents needs to start to board,acomodate seats,special needs,paperwork,ramp agents load bags,international is even more stressfull since bags has to be unload if passenger miss flight! I applaud United and hope other airlines follow!
Wouldn’t be a problem, if people actually read what they’re agreeing to!
Myself and about 50 other people missed our flight on July 1st flying out of norfolk. Arrived 2 hours before, stood in line until my plane took off. United only had 2 people working, and they had 4 flights taking off within 10 minutes of each other. Ended up flying delta.
Clickbait. Most major airports already recommend 60 min for domestic and 120-90 min for international flights to avoid security delays, and have done so for many years. The fact that airlines are now squaring up their contracts of carriage to align with these numbers is a no-brainer and hopefully will lead to fewer passengers being escorted to the front of crowded security lines because of their failure to plan to be at the airport in time for their flights.
As for the Basic Economy “oh no you never know how long the line will take”… that’s inaccurate, and even if it were, nothing’s changed. You always have to be in line earlier if you want to check in in person, and nobody’s ever made guarantees on the time that line will take.
Recommended is different than required.
What’s interesting is that UA doubled the check-in time for domestic flights – but only increased the international check-in time by 15 minutes (some locations already have in place higher check-in – as much as 90 minutes.) You would think that international check-in time would have been raised higher – considering the additional security requirements and the greater number of bags checked vs. domestic.
I believe that this will end up at the D.O.T. as a formal complaint for those Basic Economy passengers who cannot check-in on-line, and who would would therefore miss the cutoff times as they have to use the kiosks or representative in person – unlike other classes of service.
In reading the updated Contract of Carriage, UA has chosen (at this time) not to increase the times a passenger is required to be at the gate for boarding. Domestic flights remain at 15 minutes and international flights remain at 30 minutes. I find this “odd’; since the push is on gate agents to get the aircraft boarded and door closed. 15 minutes is not a much in the way of time.
On the other hand, UA raising the time to check-in matches F9 and all the current problems at DEN to reasonably check-in and make it out to the concourses on time.
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
When you spend more time milling around airports at the leisure of an airline than you do actually traveling, that gets frustrating. When it starts interfering with what you’re actually doing (earning a living), then it becomes a risk.
United allows Basic Economy pax to check in online.
I’m 67, Platinum. SMB owner. Continental frequent flyer since 1982.
They are stealing a greater % of my remaining life every day. I agree with the practical, experienced travelers that are, like me, among the last to board. I know my tick-tock. If I miss a flight because I misjudged, it’s on me. I think they closed the door on me once in 40 years – but that was a connection (and they knew I was in the airport, dammit!).
Look around folks. Marriott, Chase, et al, cutting MORE services and charging more for less. Loyalty is a one way street. Employees are automatons… Complain and they go dead behind the eyes.
We swallowed bag fees too easily. No snacks.
First they came for the coach class, and I didn’t speak up.
I’ve always showed up early for a flight and I fly frequently. At least one/two flights a month because of work. It gives me anxiety at the thought of missing a flight. I don’t know how anyone just shows up minutes before take off.
That’s exactly why stopped traveling like I used to. The value and service to price is no longer there and I’ve been everywhere. I save the money and take longer vacation when I do travel. All the travel has become more of burden than leisure like it was once.
If using UA there will be no incentive paying for Pre check, Global Entry or Clear.. Let’s see how that works when their revenue is impacted by this policy.