Minimum airport check-in & baggage times: Dom 0:45 / Int'l 0:60 (Mar 2016)
 

No announcement I saw, but the airport arrival and check-in time (even without bags) has been increased to 45 minutes for US domestic flights. (No more 30 minute check-in for any domestic flights, as existed at some non-hub locations.)


Don't forget: should be at the departure gate by T-30 to avoid the possibility losing upgrades or seats, and AA seek to close the jetway / aircraft door by T-10. (Realistically, if you're not at the gate by T-15, you do forfeit your reserved seat.)

This and the inability to load an electronic boarding pass 30 or fewer minutes from departure - also undocumented - make it imperative to allow sufficient time to check in. And yes, there have been recent instances of passengers being denied boarding when they attempted to check in at T-43 without checked baggage.

Also note boarding times:

This person just tweeted about it today, having missed a flight because of it:
https://twitter.com/SDYankee69/statu...81304315125760

Wow! And thanks. A little email notification would have gone a long way.

The tweets state Mar h 1 for this change, but I've seen it stated as the 14th. Either way, it affects us now (so I'll change the title as we don't have a solid date).

I -think- AA social media is denying so far? (I might be wrong.)

I'm not seeing them deny or verify there has been a recent change - merely that it is 45 minutes on the website (which it is, now - but it was still 30 minutes when I read the page at aa.com for work on some hub airport wikiposts).

I've seen where others have been affected.

Well, someone did say "Beware the Ides of March", and that would include March 14. :D

What does this mean:

In Orlando (MCO) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL), baggage for confirmed flights may only be accepted up to four hours prior to confirmed departure.

Can you only check bags more than four hours prior or only within four hours?

Within four hours, I'm sure, but someone hamfisted that one too. :p

That would have been my guess, presumably because of the volume off cruises, but they really ought to employ an editor.

A WHAT? :D

I probabaly would have been more accurate to say "I can't tell if they're denying it or not." :)

It's not like it's a nasty tweet either - just recommending an email or notice to travelers but TWITTER won't budge from their "check the website" mantra....

A quick look at DL and UA websites shows that they specify 30 minutes but then have quite long lists of places where it is 45 or 60 minutes. Perhaps AA just decided to move it up and avoid the lists. Some of the reported TSA delays suggest that it may not be enough anyway!

As a friend of ours said about this:

Love it!

The TSA issue may have been the catalyst for this move due to the recent publicity of passengers missing their flights due to poor staffing levels at TSA security checkpoints. Of course that still doesn't make for a good reason for AA to not send a blanket email to all AAdvantage members notifying us of the change.

Makes sense to me.