Mountain Trader

I'm posting this on the US Air forum since that's the last line I flew when it arose, but it really could apply to just about all airlines (where is the "Omni" forum?).

My complaint is that the suggested airport arrival times provided seem to bear no relationship to how busy the airport actually turns out to be, either from a check-in or security standpoint. I flew last weekend on US Air from Denver and when confirming my reservation (so the CSR knew the day and time of my flight flight) she said I should arrive 2 hours before flight time. It took 3 minutes to check in and 8 minutes to clear security.

Yesterday at Newark was even worse. They said 2 1/2 hours and I asked the CSR "what for?". She said the suggested arrival times are put out by the "government", whatever that means. It took 12 minutes to check-in and 4 minutes to clear security, leaving and almsot 2 hours until boarding.

If any of this was actually enhancing security, I'd say no problem. But it isn't. And with the yield management software the airlines have, I am sure they could come up with a better answer, perhaps rounded up to the next half hour to be safe.

I'm on the verge of just not asking about lead time, getting to the airport 45 minutes before the flight and letting the airline fix things if I miss the flight.

USFlyerUS

I've been doing just this ever since the first day I started traveling years ago. One of our VPs says, "If you don't miss at least two flights a year, you're wasting too much time in airports." He's right. ;-)

ayb1

I am pretty sure the "2 hours for domestic flights, 3 hours for international" is some sort of FAA guideline because every airline says the same thing. It has no bearing on how busy (or not) the airport will be at the time.

After 9/11, once they started beefing up airline security, I recall hearing that passengers were going to have to arrive earlier. That has been the standard since. All it leads to is lots of wasted time in the airport.

However, if you have not boarded the flight 20 minutes before departure, you can be denied boarding, even if the plane hasn't left and is even delayed.
--Alex

CPRich

Way back in the old days, pre-security craziness, I used to time it to get to the gate 15 minutes before departure. If I couldn't get in line and walk right on board, I had wasted time. I had the door shut right behind me many times, but only missed one flight in 7 years.

When I was doing PIT-SFO and they changed check-in cutoff to 30 minutes, I would routinely be at the counter 30-35 minutes before departure. Only twice did I need to go to the gate without a BP because of a missed cutoff. And I never missed a flight.

When US was kind enough to give me a free Club membership (never had one because I could never use it) and the security lines bacame unpredictable, I started building in 30 minute cushions.

I'm now travelling to LAX and fighting crazy security lines at both ends. I've become pretty good at figuring the PIT security lines, so I still get to the gate just as they are boarding, or later. At LAX, I've figured how to get from counter to gate in about 7 minutes, so I'm back to cutting it close. In fact, my watch (retentively synched with a radio-controlled clock) said I got my BP out of the machine at 30:15 prior to departure on Friday.

I usually take 2-3 flights from a new airport with extra time built in to check the pattern of traffic, security, lines, delays, etc.

The only time I'm early and sit in the airport is when I'm travelling with family or co-workers. I used to drive my Houston project team nuts to the point that they would leave 45 minutes before me - I always met them on board and never missed a flight.

Knock on wood....

PHL

Pre 9/11 and post 9/11, i've routinely arrived 1 hour prior to departure. has always worked out fine.

even when i didn't have status with anyone, i still did that and even worked it like CPRich by getting to gate counter at about the 20 minute mark. of course, that was when you could walk right down the concourse without a ticket.

dcmike

I also think its very airport/day-of-the-week/time-of-day dependent. We flew out of LAS two weeks ago on a Friday morning and it took a good 45 minutes to get through the security line.

hscottm

Just thought that I would say that DEN is one of the airports where I try to arrive at the airport about 2 hours early. The rental car stations are a bit out of the way, and the security lines can back up.

They make it worse there by having your first view of the security lines be a "bird's eye" view - ie you take escalators down to the lines from a vantage point above. Sometimes you see a mass of people that looks endless.

StSebastian

I flew out of MSP Monday morning running all the times in my head, and I knew I was going to make it to the gate with about 11-12 minutes before the scheduled departure time to beat the 10 minute cutoff time. Just after I got past security, I hear the "final boarding call" for my flight over the P/A system. Just over 20 minutes left according to the airport clocks, but they're making the final boarding call anyway. I moved very quickly down to the end of G and went to get on and the GA was holding back a potential standby. I mentioned that she'd made the call long before the 10 minute cutoff and the only response I got was "it gets people here faster". I just wanted to make sure I got on the flight or I'd have stood there and debated some more (and it was 7am CDT and I'm not a morning person).

It was NW, not US, so maybe they have a different procedure, but it was still way excessive.

For US, I was coming back from LAS a week ago and got to the gate 20-25 minutes early and there was no one there. They'd already boarded everyone and were closing down the boarding process. The guy saw me somewhat confused (where were the other 90 people that should be waiting to board or the departure sign that had already been changed to the next plane) and said "you must be Mr. StSebastian -- you're my last FC." A few minutes later two more people got on the plane, but that was it.

I can understand the rush to board and get the plane to take off, but aren't these a little excessive? If they want a shorter turn and a earlier takeoff, then pull the schedule in. I was in the LAS airport early, but went to get food and play a few slots because it was a little while until boarding was supposed to start. I can just imagine if I'd checked in at the 30 minute window and being told that I didn't get there early enough and the plane already left (oh wait...something quite similar happened on my LAS outbound flight...).

CPRich

I have no problem with them boarding as early as possible to allow time to sort out any issues. As long as they don't close it off until the defined 10 minute mark.

Why delay the start of boarding - one little glitch, a few bags too big that need to be checked, and bam - you're late.

I took a UA777 from DEN to LAX last night. I got to the gate 30 minutes before departure and the last of a pong line of pax were getting on board. I was on the phone with the family, so I stood in the area until 11 minutes before departure. A few folks wandered in here and there during the wait, but I walked on, straight to my seat (no one in the aisles, everyone's bags stowed, etc.) and we pushed back dead on time.

Works for me.

TomBascom

I wish the hubs could catch a little bit of this "rush the boarding" fever. Maybe it's just me but it seems like PIT in particular and PHL to a lesser degree don't start the boarding process any sooner than 20 minutes prior to departure.

I'm ok with that for an express flight -- there's no point in boarding 19 people half an hour early. But with 100+ people milling about compressing the process into 15 or 20 minutes isn't helpful. In fact it probably contributes a lot to the crush effect.

tw0i

I flew out of BWI to SAN last Sunday (took Amtrak down to save over $400 on the ticket, thanks to WN).

I planned a train to get me there 1:30 before departure so as to have plenty of time to take the shuttle to the terminal, etc. The check-in lines were long, but I got through them in about 10 minutes by using the kiosk, only to find the security line for terminal D snaked all the way around to terminal E. It took about 45 minutes to get through security. I ran to the gate and they started boarding moments after I got there. If the kiosk hadn't worked I'd probably have missed my flight, which was the last connection to SAN for the day.

I'm used to long lines in PHL, but at least you can walk down to another terminal to get around it there. There's never a line at F, for instance, so worst case you walk down to F (checking out the lines at D and E on the way...) and take the shuttle back to C16.

gnaget

Wow, haven't suffered BWI lately... What time of day was that? Is this the effect of Airtran's booming business?

tw0i

I arrived at the BWI airport station at around 5:00 for a 6:30 PM departure.

Terminal D has FL, HP, CO, F9, YX, NW, US, and UA. I don't know which of the low-fare carriers were really busy at that time of day (probably all of them), but most of the people in line sure weren't flying US.

JanePond

>"There's never a line at F, for instance, so worst case you walk down to F (checking out the lines at D and E on the way...) and take the shuttle back to C16."

Just curious, how far is it from clearing security to the shuttle bus?

Thanks,
Jane in PHL (never been past 'C'; dull life, eh?)

tw0i

The F concourse is pretty small compared to the others - it's shaped roughly like a "T" (see http://www.usairways.com/travel/maps/terminal/phl.htm, which is not to scale).

The shuttle bus stop is halfway down the F terminal, where the three legs come together.