Thanks for the replies, I'll probably just follow the 2 hr rule. I'm paranoid about missing a flight even though I've never come close to that. Getting to the airport, schlepping the luggage then going through TSA is the only stressful part of vacation. Once we're at the gate the vacation has officially begun. We're taking the day before off for a relaxed drive to Philly and we plan on getting to bed early so we'll get by.
Bill From PA
We are the same way about the 2 hours. We just prefer to not take any chances. We've had some odd experiences our last few trips.
Three years ago we had a magical express bus leave about 2 hours before our flight. I didn't think we would make it, but never thought to go ask for an earlier bus. At that time we flew in AirTran, but flew out Southwest (SW bought AT not long before that), and couldn't do resort check in because there was in issue with the merger and not registering in the system or something. We made a couple stops on the way. When we got there the line to check in upstairs for SW was ridiculous. We knew we wouldn't make it. We got in line and an employee made an announcement to go downstairs, there was a smaller line. We ran and luckily beat the mad dash behind us. We got through security, hit the restroom, then boarded our flight. That was way too close a call for us!
Then, last year, when leaving MCO, we had a magical express bus 3.5/4 hours before our flight. I was a little annoyed that it was so early but we took it anyway since our previous experience. Luckily we did. The lines at MCO were huge, then we got up and the boarding passes 2 of us got from resort check in wouldn't scan (the TSA guy asked if we came from WDW and said it happens quite often). We had to get out of line, go print boarding passes, then get back in line. By the time we got through, we got a couple sandwiches at McDonalds for breakfast (the others with us had a nice sit down breakfast and were done when we got through), scarfed them down, hit the restroom, then boarded our flight about 5 minutes later. After that experience, I won't take chances, especially at MCO!
Gotta say, both flights were to/from Richmond, and the Richmond portion was smooth. Got through security in no time and waited about 1.5 hours both times for our flights after through security.
On the other side, we left 3.5 hours before our recent flight out of Pittsburgh to Colorado (although it was a later morning flight). We only live about a half hour away, but were going to a park and fly, and didn't want to chance any issues. Whether it be traffic, a shuttle to the airport, or security lines. Of course everything went smooth as could be, and we were there and through security in less than an hour. We just got some breakfast, relaxed, walked around the shops, hit the restroom, then got in line for the flight. It wasn't bad though, much more relaxing than our last two departing MCO experiences.
Just goes to show that anything could happen. Better to be safe!
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. (totally wrong kind of paw and cat but whatever)
