Flight Out of Las Vegas
 

Have a upcoming trip to Las Vegas for a long weekend. Noticed that Delta flies out of terminal 1, D gates which appear to be a shuttle ride to reach. Question is, how much time ahead of departure is recommended to arrive at the airport? It is a Monday departure at 0600, I will have TSAPrecCheck and will have one checked bag. Could carry it on if that made a big difference but prefer to just check it. Really, how bag is security at that time?

Thanks in advance.

Are you returning a rental car? This tends to take the longest since the bus is not quick.

DL at LAS is a strict 45 min cutoff for checked bags. Got burned by that last year in a similar scenario (could carry-on but wanted to check) and the line can be painfully slow even if it's short.

Security is quick but then you have to take the airside train over to the gates and walk about 5-7 minutes depending on speed and pace to get to the furthest DL gates

I always shoot to be at LAS 2 hours prior to my flight no matter what time my flight. Security (even precheck) can be a pain.

The bag drop might end up being the longest part of your morning. I dunno why, even at 4:30am, AA and DL check-in is so backed up, but both airlines, both economy and priority, are really understaffed. Plan 30 minutes just for that, or skip it. My flight out recently, TSAPre was delayed some because the agent checking ID would alternate between Priority & Pre passengers (unless you have CLEAR). Screening was fine, the train to the D gates was only a few minutes wait + few minutes travel (10 minutes worst case would be my estimate), and then walking to your gate.

I arrived at rental car return at 4:45am for a 6:30 departure, and it was fine; I had enough time to visit the Centurion Lounge even, so that was maybe a touch overkill. No regrets though after seeing that bag drop line.

I thought Vegas had skycaps. Usually very little line there - even when DL announces "no line outside" almost no one gets out of the inside bag check line.

The last 2 times I went through Vegas I was the only person in the PreCheck line...it was super fast. Not sure where all these posters are getting all this extra time from.

OP - is your bag big enough to fit through TSA? If it is, worst case, as long as it doesn't have liquids over 100 ml, you can take it to the gate and check it there.

I generally travel to LAS 6 times a year, and for the most part use the Sky Priority line to check a bag and use PRE for security and I have no issues. Generally very quick for me.

With that said I have seen the regular security side be a mess before so if you want to be safe use everyones advise.

Not sure what you mean by shuttle ride, LAS is a train ride to terminal D post security. (takes less than 5 minutes)

Agree with what's above as it's been hit or miss for me flying out of LAS. Sometimes a breeze, other times a pain. 90-minutes or so is usually a safe bet.

As an FYI it is VERY boring post security unless you have an Amex card that gets you in the Centurion lounge or priority pass for the Club at LAS. No crown room, United is the only airline with an airline club. Food options are pretty awful (except Rubys) and not much to do.

B-b-b-b-b-but, the slot machines! ;)

hahahaha one time i had a very odd connection because I needed to go west to get a red eye to go back east.

ANYWAYS

I had 90ish minutes at McCarran and I am a gambler so I swore to myself i would play one slot since I couldnt go to the casinos (I was quite sad seeing the casinos and not being able to go). Put in a $5 bill and hit a $50 or $60 win and said that was a successful trip to Vegas.... :)

I usually try to get to the airport about 70 minutes before departure. Only once have I not had time to go to the centurion lounge for about 10 minutes then make it to the gate 30 min before departure.

I think it depends on the weekend though. Vegas has a lot of conferences. I'm never there during big conferences since the caesars and mlife offers aren't as good, but if there's a big conference the week before, maybe leave a little extra time.

I guess the analysis depends on how important it is for you to make your flight. I've missed my flight out of vegas twice on AA (just decided to go later) and they would just book me on the next one with no charge, but my route out of vegas had a flight about every hour. Not sure what delta would do.

It was pretty funny a few years ago when they still had some of the ANCIENT video slot machines in the airport. I'll be honest in that I was a bit disappointed the first time I flew through and they had swapped them out for newer models as some of those old ones were utterly ridiculous.

Also, I'd consider that a successful trip, too!

Agree with this. I'm also out there about 6x a year. I generally get there 2 hours early as TSA(I Have Pre) can be very hit or miss.