what time to arrive at airport for international flight
Want to start an argument? Tell your travel companion yous won't exist arriving two hours before your flight.
Go on, try information technology. I'll be right here.
This is the time of year when emptier airport terminals are making a lot of passengers question the conventional wisdom about check-in times. And no, this isn't a frivolous, first-globe problem. Vacations take been ruined because of it. Marriages have ended. So let's settle this question one time and for all.
As with so many things in travel, at that place's a simple answer — and a complicated one.
The simple reply is: Ii hours for domestic flights, three hours for international flights. More or less.
"The two-hour recommendation is fairly standard across the manufacture," says Heather Lissner, a spokeswoman for Phoenix Heaven Harbor International Airport. "Nosotros recommend the 2 hours then that travelers take enough time to get dropped off or park their cars, bank check their numberless and get through security to their gates."
The complicated answer: Information technology depends.
Lissner explains that while experienced travelers may find they need less time, the two hours gives those who don't travel equally oft a hazard to have a less rushed and stressful travel experience. And during busy holiday periods or special events, the airport may recommend adding fifty-fifty more time.
For example, during terminal year'south College Football Playoff, the folks at Sky Harbor adopted a "iii-2-1" recommendation: Get in at the airport ticket counter to bank check in 3 hours before your flight; be in line at the airdrome security checkpoint two hours before your flight; be at the gate ane hour before your flying.
How "standard" is this advice? The Transportation Security Administration agrees with it, but airlines don't. For example, American Airlines advises passengers to be at the airport two hours earlier flight fourth dimension for international departures and ninety minutes for domestic flights. Likewise, there's an exception for flights to certain overseas destinations, which require that y'all check in earlier.
United Airlines further complicates this result by adding luggage to the equation. If yous're not checking luggage, the carrier advises you lot to get in at the aerodrome at least sixty minutes before your scheduled departure time. If you're checking luggage, it's ninety minutes. For international flights, requite yourself ii hours, says United.
Confused withal?
It may assistance to note the likely motives backside the advice. The TSA and airports want yous to go there earlier, each for its ain reasons. The agency does not like to be rushed with screenings fifty-fifty if in that location's a long security line. Airports desire yous to have advantage of their incredible shopping and dining facilities, which yous tin't do if you're rushing to the gate. Likewise, they factor in the time it takes to find parking. Airlines, on the other manus, don't desire yous milling effectually the boarding expanse for as well long.
But these guidelines don't take into account the fact that you're dealing with people — some with mobility problems, others who are nervous and would get in a 24-hour interval before their flight if they could. That's where things get interesting, and that's where the "depends" really becomes credible.
Joe Reimers, a sales engineer from Due south Bend, Ind., describes himself as a "conservative" traveler, especially when he'southward checking a bag. But if he flies out of his domicile airport, which he knows well, he sometimes arrives just 45 minutes before his departure.
"Flying out of less familiar airports on return trips is a different story," he says. He sticks to the airline advice of 2 hours for international flights and 90 minutes for domestic flights. "At very big airports, I may go even longer," he adds.
Yet other experienced travelers say their lead fourth dimension is always the same. Douglas Jensen, an IT consultant from Natick, Mass., is a meridian-level elite frequent flier with 45 years of air travel feel.
"I always allow ii hours for domestic flights and three hours for international flights," he says. That means leaving his home at 1 a.thousand. for a 5 a.m. flying, gives him the security of knowing that he won't miss his flying.
And that really is the object of this whole practice: to not miss the flight. And then the real question is whether to go with the airport and TSA recommended arrival times which are more generous, or the airline times, which cut it a piffling closer.
In this case, the airports and the TSA are absolutely correct. Never listen the overpriced airport food and the tacky duty-free shops your local airport desire y'all to frequent, or the pat-downwardly the TSA agents hope you'll endure. And forget the seasonal lull, which volition probably be over by the time you're finished with this commodity.
If you miss your flying, you lot have a whole new set of problems. Y'all don't desire to become at that place.
What to do at the drome for free while you wait
• See the fine art. Phoenix Heaven Harbor, for instance, has an impressive collection of art (more data can be institute at skyharbor.com/Museum/Exhibitions). Terminal 4 has art dedicated to Arizona's weather on exhibit through March nineteen, for example. Don't forget to check out the machine rental last artwork displays.
• Scout the planes. One of the best places to airplane-spot is Honolulu International Airport (HNL). Terminals there are connected by long, open-air walkways, where you can come across the aircraft up close, smell the aircraft fuel and hear the deafening roar of shipping engines revving upward. Other observation opportunities tin can exist plant on the Spotters Wiki: spotterswiki.com.
• Take a hike. Sitting in a pressurized aluminum tube for hours at a time is no i's idea of fun. But yous can stretch your legs before you take off by walking through the airdrome terminal. The longest walkable concourse? That would be Denver International Airport's Concourse B, which is 3,300 anxiety long. Simply y'all can always hop on the people mover to the next terminal and keep walking.
Take a hike: Airports with the longest walks between gates
Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler. Contact him at chris@elliott.org or visit elliott.org.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/advice/2017/02/19/how-early-to-arrive-before-flight/98036704/
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