Dambus

Target arrival times for most frequent departure points:

ORD T5: T-90 mins

KARFA

I live around 15-20 minute drive to the airport. I do sometimes cut it fine, I have done leaving home and at the gate in 30 minutes but I prefer something a little less stressful!

missdimeaner

I only travel for leisure and am quite risk averse. My local airport (LHR) is about 15 miles away but takes an eternity to get to, method 1-the tube living on the southern end of the Northern line I have to travel into town and change twice with no steps, once with steps. The journey can take about 90 minutes on a good day.
If I go by car it can take anywhere from 35 minutes up to 2 hours (normally about 90 mins).
I like to arrive about 2 hours before and allow 2 hours for the journey to LHR. Strangely enough when in NYC and travelling domestically from LGA I only allow 1 hour at the airport and the exact time the MTA trip planner says I need to travel from Brooklyn, I think it may be because I trust AA to rebook me more than I do BA if I’m late (also the cost of a TATL would be considerably more).
I also prefer early flights to later ones due to the fact I need to ‘get going’ and not hang around looking at the clock

tuff

My family and friends know that I am a nightmare when it comes to getting to airports. My ideal is to get to the lounge two hours before the flight; my compromise is get to the airport two hours before otherwise the stress levels grow rapidly. I'm not sure why this is because I fly most weekends and should be used to it by now. On the rare occasions I travel with work colleagues I usually travel alone or bribe them to travel on my timetable with the offer of lounge access. This often means I get to the airport before even my deadline!

CharlotteC

Long haul three hours before, short haul 2 hours before flying and airports stressful enough with all that security; but with an early morning departure before 10 tend to stay at LHR or LGW; I live in Fulham which is either 40 minutes or an hour and a half away from Heathrow. As somebody once said you can’t catch a flight once it’s gone...

Corpt

dylanks

For me it's all across the board and I would say I have no seemingly predictable pattern to an outsider, but it's a function of checking bags, lounge, time of day, day of week, TSA PreCheck, conformance, airport lounges, location, destination, airline, ticket flexibility, mode of transport to the airport, weather, major holiday, etc. I can be fairly productive working from lounges, so erring on the side of a bit early isn't a significant loss of time for me.

annihilation

Mainly travel from LHR.

For work and not eating: 45-1hour
Work and eating/drinking in CCR: 1.5hours
Holiday: 2Hours to enjoy the CCR with friends/family

Other airports (esp with rubbish lounges) I typically turn up as late as possible, like TXL: 20-30mins

yrin

I only travel for leisure (visiting family/vacations) and most of that travel is short haul on low cost airlines. Luton Airport is the easiest one for me to get to, and I aim to be at the airport around 1 hour before the gate closes, travelling HBO - I absolutely hate having to check a bag in when visiting family as the flight is invariably to LIS and it takes a silly amount of time to recover it. This means getting a train into Luton about 2 hours beforehand. There isn't really a "plan B" other than buying a new ticket if the flight is missed (insurance wouldn't help as I am clearly not leaving the recommended time) so I may get stung one day. So far, so good! Only had a close call and that was due to the trains being disrupted on the main line - managed to get a lift to the airport at short notice and made it in with little time to spare.

However other airports are a completely different matter. Having to get a lift, or transit through London adds a degree of unpredictability. Stansted I'd happily be there an hour before the gate closes, but those taking me to the airport insist on being there at least 2 hours beforehand (being sensible and all). Gatwick I am trying for the first time late next month, staying the night before at a hotel as that was cheaper than peak time trains the next day (10am departure on a weekday).

I only use LHR for long haul, as it is a pain to get to - and as such I aim to be there 3 hours before gate closes. My partner's dad drives us to the airport and often we end up being there about 4 hours early, as they worry about the traffic and anything that could potentially go wrong. It's actually played a big role in me getting a lounge access card, as we travel in economy (I am too cheap ) and thought it would be nicer to sit in a different waiting room with some free food!

:D!

Exactly this - I'll just go to the airport rather than faff around at home or in a hotel, for example if I have a flight at noon versus a flight at 10am, the extra 2 hours is generally not enough to do anything useful especially when I know I need to go soon, so I might as well just go to the airport as if I had a 10am flight. I would probably just be sitting at my computer which can be done just as easily in the lounge.

For an evening long-haul departure, half of the time I won't have planned anything during the day except for finishing up my packing, so when that is done I might as well head off to the airport as long as I am able to check my bags any time and the lounge is not some dire tiny room with nothing to eat.

BotB

Personally, I think the last luxury we all have is time.

Regardless of short or or long haul I try to arrive at the airport 3 hours before a flight minimum, this ensures that I never again have to worry about conformance, the slow person in front of me taking their one holiday a year or having a car breakdown, etc...

i have a much better demeanour and travel experience if I am relaxed and can just casually go through any stages before the flight.

Others will always want to cut it close and more power to them, however it would cause me undue stress so I’d just say thanks, let’s meet at the gate or airside and then both can do what is more restful to them...

its the the same thing with driving somewhere, if possible I leave a bit early and then am happy to wait a bit at the other end or stop for a rest break and do the speed limit whereas others will always leave late and must speed to get there on time but each to their own.

i can happily sit and people watch for hours though, especially with a drink/coffee in public spaces, plus I like to eat before a long haul, regardless of travel class and this gives me time to do so.

South London Bon Viveur

For me it's all dependent on circumstances, but generally I fly defensively, which means building enough slack into my schedule to ensure that hiccups and delays do not cause me to miss my flight. Therefore when there are no such hiccups, I usually have plenty of time. I understand that some people don't like airports and don;t have lounge access, and therefore want to leave things a bit later, but to my mind tight turnarounds in this day and age simply make the whole experience unnecessarily stressful, because let's face it, from getting to the airport, to checking in, to immigration and security....the opportunities for delays are numerous.

KARFA

I am LS17 also

Corpt

Open Jaw

I get there early because I hate to rush. Moreover, I can claim I am on vacation once I leave the house. Everyone has to then wait until I return to talk to me about work.