Planning your Travel: When is the Best Time to Arrive at the Airport

Most airlines tell us to be at the airport three hours before an international flight and two hours for a domestic one. But, do we really need to be there that early? Depending on the airline, the airport and whether you have check in bags, you can actually come a little bit later to the airport these days. And, especially if you’re already checked in, there’s no need to come super early. But, you still need to factor in travel time to the airport and the potential for traffic when considering when to leave your home.

Let’s take a look at how you can plan your trip to the airport in the best way possible.

International or domestic

Depending on where you are flying, you will need to consider differences in how early you show up. International flights always require a slightly earlier arrival time, mainly because they will start the boarding process a lot earlier.

Typically, international flights will start boarding 40 or even 50 minutes before they are due to leave. Domestic flights on the other hand, can often start boarding just 15 minutes before. Once boarding starts, check-in is closed, so you do need to ensure you’re at the airport before that point.

If you’re not fussed about having space in the overhead compartments, or you only have a small bag that can be kept at your feet, you can cut it fine. Arriving just before boarding ends means that you won’t be sitting for ages on the plane while others board. But, you’re likely not going to have anywhere to store your bags other than at your feet. As such, this move is entirely up to you.

Bags or no bags

Similarly, if you’ve not got any bags to check in, you can often get away with arriving later to the airport. This is especially the case if you’ve already checked in online. If you don’t need to wait for checking in bags, when you arrive at the airport you can go straight to security. This means that it’s often fine to arrive just an hour or so before your flight leaves. All you’ll need to do is get through security and head to the gate.

However, if you do need to check in bags, you should give yourself an extra hour as you have no idea how long queues can be for checking in the bag. This goes for both international and domestic flights.

Getting through security

Of course, all this is still dependent on the time it takes to get through security. If you’re arriving just an hour before you flight is due to leave and there are huge queues in security, then you might still miss your flight. If you’ve got priority or pre-check status, you can get through security quickly. But not many people do. As such, it’s a great idea to consider the airport you’re at and how busy it’s going to be.

Remember, depending on where you are and where you’re flying to, if you are doing an international flight and heading home, you’re going to need to go through immigration too, and this can often take a long time, longer than security. As such, you may need to factor in an additional 45 minutes just for immigration, meaning arriving three hours before your flight could be a good idea.

Even if you don’t have long in security or immigration, some airports are huge. If you’re only through security 45 minutes before your flight leaves, it may take you a while to get to your gate. Gates close before the designated flight departure time, so leaving it until the last minute may mean you get to the gate too late.

What should you do?

At the end of the day, it’s entirely up to you. But, as there are many variables to think about, if you want a stress-free airport experience, then arriving a little early is vastly better. Erring on the side of caution when it comes to queue length, travel time, security processes and so on, is always best. Don’t miss your flight simply because you don’t want to wait too long in the airport.