Last winter, I had the pleasure of flying an 8:30 a.m. flight out of Air Canada's main terminal in YYZ. At least 500 people were in the check in line. At departure minus thirty, the agents would call out a flight, and move everyone on that flight up to the front. Thus delaying everyone else, so they had to do this for every flight. It seemed like a real mess, but I suppose it worked for them.

I've given this thread some thought, and there are no easy answers. The bottom line is that, not counting time in line, it takes an average of x minutes to check in, and y minutes to clear security. I'd guess x + y isn't any more than 5 minutes. Add time in case something takes unusually long, and you have the 30-60 minutes that the airlines were suggesting pre 9/11.

Everything else is waiting in line.

But there are a certain number of gate agents, and a certain number of security portals, and it's enough to get everyone thru each day. So why the lines? My theory is that there are lines because the people don't come thru evenly spaced throughout the day. So the problem, at least at the large or hub airports, is the hub departure schedule, where most flights tend to arrive and depart within an hour of each other, to facilitate transfers. Then many fewer flights until the next busy time. Space out the flights, and the lines solve themselves. As a side effect, there's be a lot less time waiting on the tarmac while 23rd for takeoff.

The downside is connecting passengers would be a lot more likely to have 2 and 3 hour connections. But if they can get to the airport an hour later, and save a half hour on the tarmac, then they're getting much of that back. And things would eb a lot better for nonstop passengers.

So? Is this idea completely impracticle?