How early do you arrive at the airport on your way to Disney ?

[ctjsowens]

I think this is a pretty useful thread unlike what one other has said. Anyway, we got to Clt 3 hrs before our flight. We were able to get parked , got thru security, eat and relax without being rushed. Now this was our first time flying to Disney and next time we may do 2 to 2.5 hrs.

 

[tink15823]

The night before departure.

Nice dinner at airport hotel; check in following morning; breakfast in airline lounge; go to gate an hour later; arrive WDW late afternoon; unpack; dinner on Boardwalk; early to bed.

Andrew

Were we live it takes longer to get to the airport than to fly to Fl. Driving time to airport 2 1/2 hr as long as there is no road work or accidents . Flight time 2 hr 6 min . We treat the kids to a night before trip to the zoo and hotel in Pitt.

 

[jcvalenti]

I fly out of Detroit Metro (a Delta hub), so when I travel during the work week and travel with the family, I aim to drop them off at the curb 2 hours before the flight. The wife gets the kids and gets starts getting through security while I park.

We almost always end up twiddling thumbs for an hour and a half ... but it's worth it just for the 1 time that security is backed up out the door of the airport.

 

[Hoopfamily]

This last trip, we stayed at a hotel the night before our trip that was very close to the airport. Awesome choice because it allowed for my wife and Daughter to get a little more shut eye. The main reason was the price. For $20.00 more than just parking at the airport, we were able to stay close and leave our car with them, they even shuttled us to and from the airport. Even flying out of a smaller airport this time though we still got to the airport 2 hours early. I don't know what the big deal is with being later than that. My FIL likes to see how close he can cut it and still be on time, like it's bragging rights or something. If the airport says 2 hours, you should be IN the airport 2 hours prior to your flight, not trying to find parking. That said I've had flights out of Logan airport on Sunday morning leaving at 7 am and hit insane traffic at 4:30 trying to get there. Just be early bring a book and start your trip.

 

[Alexander]

We fly out of 4 very small airports (one only has 11 flights per day in and out) so arriving 2 hours early there is crazy. There is absolutely nothing to do, no restaurants, no shops, hardly ever any people to sit and watch. So if we fly from there we get there about an hour ahead of time. From the other 3 we arrive about an hour and a half ahead of departure. There are never lines to check our luggage (we always check in from home and have boarding passes on arrival) or more than a dozen people waiting at security.

It really depends on how busy your airport is. When we fly home out of MCO and have to check bags, we get there 2 hours early and ALWAYS check our bags at the curb because the line inside is always lloonngg no matter what airline we fly. If we have used RAC for our luggage, we arrive about 1.5 ahead of time and go straight to security.

 

[maryj11]

This is kind of a "stupid" question. Different airports have different suggested times to be at the airport. Some DIS live 5 minutes from the airport. Others are driving hours to their nearest airport, or to the nearest airport which offered good fares. A person driving from Canada to take a flight from Buffalo is likely to arrive at the airport very early if they properly allowed enough extra time for traffic and customs and said extra time wasn't required.

A better question might be how many DIS allow more time then suggested by the airport or how many posters think they know more and plan on arriving at the airport with less time to spare then recommended by the airport.

I plan on getting to the airport at least as early as suggested by the airport. Typically 90-120 minutes.

Some people think they can get to small, local airports, close to flight time. A small airport may only have one, or two, security lines. At least one small airline shuts down (or used to shut down) baggage checkin something like an hour (more?) before the flight. The employee who checks luggage closes the checkin desk and becomes the gate attendant.

People need to find out the deadline to check luggage and the suggested arrival time at the airport.

Flights are frequently overbooked. Getting to the gate early might make it easier to accept a bump and make it harder for the airline to involuntarily bump you.

I didn't think it was a stupid question. I didn't ask what time you leave your house, I asked how early do you arrive at the airport. Yes of course arrival time would be different depending on the size of the airport.

 

[tink15823]

This is kind of a "stupid" question. Different airports have different suggested times to be at the airport. Some DIS live 5 minutes from the airport. Others are driving hours to their nearest airport, or to the nearest airport which offered good fares. A person driving from Canada to take a flight from Buffalo is likely to arrive at the airport very early if they properly allowed enough extra time for traffic and customs and said extra time wasn't required.

A better question might be how many DIS allow more time then suggested by the airport or how many posters think they know more and plan on arriving at the airport with less time to spare then recommended by the airport.

I plan on getting to the airport at least as early as suggested by the airport. Typically 90-120 minutes.

Some people think they can get to small, local airports, close to flight time. A small airport may only have one, or two, security lines. At least one small airline shuts down (or used to shut down) baggage checkin something like an hour (more?) before the flight. The employee who checks luggage closes the checkin desk and becomes the gate attendant.

People need to find out the deadline to check luggage and the suggested arrival time at the airport.

Flights are frequently overbooked. Getting to the gate early might make it easier to accept a bump and make it harder for the airline to involuntarily bump you.

If you don't like the question you don't have to answer. The only STUPID question is a question NOT ASKED !!!!!!!!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I agree, not a stupid question at all. That's what we are doing here in the first place....getting answers to our vacation questions.

 

[Castillo Mom]

We usually fly out of LAX and arrive two hours ahead. Last trip we had a Home Alone moment where neither of our alarms went off and we woke up late. We made to our terminal when they had just started boarding! I never want to go through that again, it was so stressful. We're flying out of a much smaller airport this time but will be there an hour and a half early anyway. Bottom line, get there early and you'll be way less stressed.

 

[macraven]

Stupid was a poor choice of words. I should have said the information offered in this thread is worthless and irrelevant.

Southwest has a table which lists the suggested arrival time at airports. One column for Tue-Th and one for F-M You see 1 hour, 1.5 hours and 2 hours.

There is a big difference between arriving 1 hour before your flight, when the suggested time is 2 hours and arriving 1 hour before your flight when the suggested time is 1 hour.

The way the OP phrased the question doesn't provide any useful information.

Identifying the airport and day of the week would provide the best information. At least asking people to compare their arrival time with the suggested arrival time would have some value.

A very frequent flier once said a person who's never missed a flight has wasted too much time in airports during their lifetime. Most of us don't share that philosophy. Arriving when suggested makes sense. Maybe shave 2 hours down to 1.5 if you don't have checked luggage. Maybe add 15 minutes if you're nervous and want to allow extra time.



.

lewisc corrected his choice of wording from the original post.

give him a break.
you don't find many posters that return right away to clear up the error they made.

 

[prncess674]

Way too many factors to determine what time to arrive at the airport

• What day of the week are you flying?
• What time of day is your flight?
• Are you flying domestically or internationally?
• Are you checking baggage?
• Do you have airline elite status/first class tickets which has priority check in for luggage check?
• If you have FC/elite status does your airport have priority secuity checkpoints for such passengers?
• How well do you know the airport layout?
• Will you be traveling with kids and/or disabled persons who may need extra time at security or need to use the bathroom before boarding?
• Do you plan on eating a meal at the airport before boarding your flight?

As a frequent traveler I am very capable and quick at the airport. I take a Monday morning flight almost every week and know the DCA airport like the back of my hand. If my scheduled flight departure is 7am I leave my home via taxi (10 minute drive to the airport) at 5:45am. I have printed my boarding pass the evening before and know exactly where I am going. My rolling bag is carry on approved so I head straight to the FC/elite security line where I am usually thru in less than 5 minutes. I am still through security in plenty of time to stop for a post security coffee to bring on my flight rather than drink the swill made with airplane water.

So to answer your question I arrive approximately one hour prior to departure. Would I suggest this for Joe casual traveller with 4 suitcases, 2 kids and granny in a wheelchair who fly once a year to WDW, then the answer is no you need to follow the advice of arriving 2 hours.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm talking about being IN the airport an hour before the flight - not including time for transportation TO the airport. I fly from Dulles or National. Dulles has that fast security line downstairs (diamond line for frequent travelers, they bring wheelchairs through there too) and the train to the gate area, and National is a relatively small airport, if I have to go to the old terminal I probably need more time. That's just me, I am not traveling with kids or anything. Might want to take more time if you are.

The last time I went to National, if I were going to Terminal 2 I would have probably missed my plane, the security line was that bad.