Airport arrival time

[RoseRoni2]

Our airtran flight leaves at 6:30 am Tuesday morning. I know they use to require you to be at the airport at least 2 hours before your flight. Do you think if I get there at 5 am it will give me enough time for check in. Since I am traveling alone with my DD 10 I really don't want to get her up any eariler than I need. What do you all think?

 

[thepwa]

I think you will be just fine. I don't know how busy your airport is, but I will be flying Airtran out of Washington-Dulles, a fairly busy airport, and I am shooting for 90 minutes.

 

[Hopefully]

What airport are you flying out of? How big and how busy is it? What day of the week are you flying? Are you checking luggage?
I usually do stick to the 2 hour pre-arrival time, as I would much prefer to be early over the stress about being late. Early mornings can be very busy at urban airports as lots of business travelers are flying first thing in the morning. You want plenty of time to get through security.
That said, are you able to check in and print your boarding pass on line? That definitely cuts down on wait time at the airport. Also you need to check and see what time are ticket counters and security lines are staffed at your airport.
Once you think about some of these issues you will better be able to judge if 90 minutes is enough lead time.
Good Luck.

 

[Missytara]

I am the same way; I would rather be a bit earlier than running late. I live in DE and fly out of BWI. My flight leaves at 7:00 am, so I leave the house between 3:15 am and 3:30 am.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

Since you have an early morning flight, check with the airline to find out what time their counters will be open. I have arrived two hours early before for an early flight only to find out that the counters didn't open until thirty minutes or an hour later.

 

[chemie15]

MissyTara, I am from DE too, how long is the drive and where are you driving from? which way do you go (301 or 95)?

 

[Lewisc]

Go to the website. Most airports Airtran suggests 90 minutes. Make sure you allow enough time. You don't want traffic or road closure due to overnight construction to shrink the 90 minutes to 70 minutes. The 90 minutes starts when you enter the terminal, not when your car enters airport property. Allow enough time if you're driving yourself to the airport and need to take a shuttle from long term parking. Also allow extra time if the person driving you to the airport runs late.

 

[ktkerber]

Maybe call the airport and see how busy they normally are on the morning you are traveling. We had a 6am flight on a Tuesday(not a busy flying day)back in Feb for our trip and I thought the same thing, How busy could it be? None of us are early birds and hate getting up. But I called the airport customer service line and asked them. They said the airport was surprisingly busy at that time. Well, we followed her suggestion to still be there 2 hours ahead(4am) and she was right. It was busy and our flight was completely booked.

I'm with the others and would error on the side of caution and be there early. You don't want to start a great vacation off of the wrong foot. Your child can sleep on the plane!!

 

[Lewisc]

The length of the lines to check your bags, and go through security, isn't just a function of the number of passengers. It also depends on staffing.

 

[RoseRoni2]

I am going to call the airport to see what they recommend. I would like to be safe than sorry. Leaving my house at 3:30 in the morning does not appeal to me at all but I will do it if that is what they recommend.

 

[kevgraub]

Our airtran flight leaves at 6:30 am Tuesday morning. I know they use to require you to be at the airport at least 2 hours before your flight. Do you think if I get there at 5 am it will give me enough time for check in. Since I am traveling alone with my DD 10 I really don't want to get her up any eariler than I need. What do you all think?

Since you are in Belton, I assume you are flying out of Kansas City. Ninety minutes should be just fine flying out of MCI. If you give yourself 45-60 minutes to get to the airport, and then 60-90 minutes at the airport, you should be just fine. I have actually pulled up at MCI 35 minutes before a flight left (first trip with a 2 year old, took a little longer to leave Topeka than we planned), checked my bags at the curbside check-in, parked my car, and made it through security with about 5 minutes to spare. Definitely don't try that, but it shows how quickly Kansas City can go.

Another thing you might want to think about that would save you quite a bit of time driving up there and parking your car would be doing a park and fly at one of the hotels up by the airport. We were able to get a park and fly rate at the Four Points by Sheraton for $85 for the night before we leave. Then we can just take the airport shuttle over in the morning (5 minute drive rather than 60 minute drive) and we do not have to allow for the extra time to park our car, wait for the bus to come, etc. Parking at MCI is $5 in the economy lots, and we will be gone for 8 days, so the hotel room is really only costing us $45 for the night, and saving us a lot of time, stress and hastle the morning of our trip.