How early arrival at EWR & PHX
 

Any insight would be appreciated!!

1. how early do I need to arrive at EWR for a 6AM flight? I assume 1hr would be enough this early???

2. Scheduling trip to PHX, 5:20pm departure is ideal but I can probably only arrive 1hr 20min early for the flight. Is that enough?

Thanks!

In both cases, I would say it varies by airline/terminal.

NWA will be the airline for both. EWR terminal B. PHX Terminal 3

thanks

mevans- re 6am flt, call a/l to find out what time counter opens.

I've seen looong security line at EWR terminal B....be careful...the same line is for Delta/NorthWest.

Do you have status?

This makes a MAJOR difference

At Thanksgiving, security at certain EWR checkpoints was a complete mess! Although I think the worst offender was AA, due to their particularly high level of security paranoia.

Regardless, I'd plan for at least 90 minutes, despite the early departure time. That said, if the line is long and you don't think you'll make it, go to the front and show the time of your flight - if it's within 30 minutes, they'll generally skip you to the front.

Early am flights, contrary to what you might expect, can be the worst. The problem is that the terminal probably doesn't open for business two hours before the first one. So you get everyone on any flight leaving before 6:30, and most of the pax for any leaving through 7 or 7:15, piling up at the same time. It takes a long time to clear the queue. So, while I haven't used EWR since 9/11, I've seen enough of those backups to suggest you get there as early as possible for that one.

An hour and 20 minutes should be ample for the pm departure from PHX.

I have had about 5 early [6:00am - 6:45am] departures at Newark Terminal C since 9/11 - never any backup whatsoever. I always use the largest security entrance near the new gate 130s concourse.

I have also taken a few Northwest flights at those times. Security is somewhat slower, but was not a significant delay. 1 hour ahead was plenty.