Comment by codelikeawolf
2 days ago
I take at least 6 - 8 flights a year and I have never needed to show up to the airport 2 hours early, but for some reason, I still do. Maybe it's superstition? I almost always end up at my gate within 15 minutes of walking into the airport (thanks TSA PreCheck!) That being said, even if I could confidently start showing up 45 minutes before my plane is about to take off, I'm essentially just sitting around at home, waiting to get a ride to the airport. So I'm either sitting in a chair on my laptop at home or doing the same at the airport. At least the airport has a Starbucks.
It depends on the airport and when you show up, but walking straight through security with TSA PreCheck is becoming less and less of a sure thing. At SeaTac, checkpoint #5 is PreCheck only and it can still take 20-40 minutes at busy periods.
It's probably still worth it, but just keep an eye on checkpoint wait times if your airport publishes them and don't just assume PreCheck means you can show up whenever.
I find you can really breeze through security if you've got wheelchair assistance for someone in your party.
Of course, you might end up waiting an hour for the chair.
Clear is the new PreCheck. So many people have PreCheck that it is frequently not significantly faster now.
I’ve seen airports where Clear is slower than Precheck. It’s all dependent on your local airport and the types of travelers it tends to attract. My home airport still has pretty quick Precheck lines. My last flight, I needed to check a bag. I walked into the terminal 70 minutes before departure (not my plan). I had my bag checked, through security, and seated at my gate 55 minutes before departure. I haven’t always been so lucky but the odds were in my favor that day.
This is PDX, not the biggest airport but not a tiny one either.
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I cannot relax before I’ve physically visited the gate, starting from the night before. I sleep poorly before a flight, waking up a hundred times to glance at the clock to make sure I haven’t overslept.
I’ve never overslept. It doesn’t matter.
So, my mental options are 1) give in, get up, take a leisurely trip to the airport without worries of an unplanned traffic slowdown, get through security, stroll to my gate to make sure I know where it is, then find a lounge and chill in relaxation knowing that everything’s fine, or 2) stress out that something might go wrong and make me miss my flight up and wish I’d left earlier.
I know me. I’ve done this plenty of times. This is my choice. So I go with the first every time: get there too early, then chill more than I possibly could if I were anywhere else. Either way I’m going to be up and moving. Why not use that time to radically de-stress my morning?
Had to check your screen name to make sure my dad didn’t just find out about HN :) He’s very much like that and this is exactly what I meant about some people who would get there very early anyway. I get it.
There are dozens of us. Dozens!
Some of this may be because a lot of my formative year travels were when I was in the military. In practice, no one’s likely to send you to Leavenworth just because you missed a flight and got back late, but it’d certainly give your boss an opportunity to yell about it if they wanted to. Consequences today are more about expense and inconvenience than trouble, but a little core bit of me still recoils in horror at the idea of not making my plane.
> I cannot relax before I’ve physically visited the gate.
Haha, oh lawd I can relate. After getting through security with hours to spare before boarding, I make sure to check that my gate actually exists before I can relax.
Seriously! And also, that it exists where I think it will be. I’m flying out of gate A28? Turns out A1-A26 are in this terminal, and gates A27-A843 are in another zip code.
That sounds awful. Have you tried thinking what’s the worst thing that could happen? It’s no so bad.
Planning ahead pays off when something eventually goes wrong at every step.
Late start, traffic, late shuttle, understaffed security, long lines, construction, gate moved to another concourse, gate moved to another concourse - if you put enough buffer time in the schedule, you can still make the flight.
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In the 1980's they wouldn't let a guy from Apple keep all his stuff with him. He and his buddies got off the plane, maybe to hire a car I don't know. I think he was talking about driving.
Yes.
Doesn't matter, I'm wired the same way.
The last thing I want is to start thinking of the worst that could happen. I am very creative and my brain won’t shut up once started. I’ll get stuck in a strange airport for 12 hours, and have to sleep in a chair which will hurt my back and I’ll have to get a refill of muscle relaxants, which will probably get me addicted and homeless. My cat will miss her meal and starve to death. My bank will see that I’m outside the travel window I’d told them about, see strange changes from Tampa, and cancel my debit card. Or if I’m heading to a business trip, it’ll leave such a bad impression on my boss that I’ll have to get a new job.
I could go on like this for an hour.
I’m not really that anxious 99.9% of the time, but add in the inherent stress of travel, especially if it’s for business, and we’re off to the races.
Orrrr, I could get there early since I’m awake and moving anyway, find a lounge, and have a leisurely breakfast and beverage before settling in with my Switch or an ereader. That’s my choice by a wide margin.
If it makes you feel better I’ve flown a bit more than that (not a ton more) for 25ish years and only once have I missed a flight as a result. And it was a Sunday morning leaving Las Vegas during March madness so really, I knew better.
I’ve talked to touring musicians who say they aim for 15 minutes before boarding.