Originally Posted by
JerryFF
I see 12 flights scheduled to depart between 6 and 6:30 am. That's about 1200 passengers. Considering that some airlines often close the doors as much as 10 minutes before scheduled departure, arriving 30 minutes before scheduled departure even with TSA pre-check would be taking a substantial risk. One hour would be my minimum with a family without pre-check. Ask yourself what a few extra minutes of a relaxed departure is worth compared with a frantic dash or even worse, a missed flight, would mean. My slogan - I'd rather be in here wishing I was out there rather than out there wishing I was in here.
Today the PreCheck security lane at SJC was the one farthest back looking from the front of the line. This meant that you had to wait with the non-PreCheck people for a little bit after the ID/boarding pass check, which slowed things down a bit.
I don't know if it's normal for SJC but considering that's a possibility, arriving a bit earlier than usual is probably a good thing to do.