If you take just a carry on....

[kristenrice]

...how early do you get to the airport?

I have flown out of DTW only twice and both times we had luggage to check. I am planning a trip (2 adults only) where we will only have carry ons and we will check in online and print our boarding passes in advance. The last two trips, we arrived about 2 hours before our flight and it easily took a half hour to check our luggage. We cleared security in about 15 minutes...and that was with 2 strollers, a car seat, 4 bags, 2 laptops, a DVD player and 2 children under the age of 6. I'm thinking that, unless there is a huge line, it shouldn't take more than a half hour from arrival at the airport to arrival at the gate.

Do you think I would be OK if we showed up about 60-75 minutes before our flight? We are flying AirTran so I know that they start boarding 30 minutes in advance. We're looking at a 10:40am departure and we won't be arriving at our hotel in Detroit until about 1am so we want to get as much sleep as possible. I am assuming that with only carry-on luggage, we can enter the terminal and go straight to security, right? On our previous trips, we left on a Saturday, early afternoon. This time, we'll be leaving on a Thursday, if that makes a difference.

 

[dudspizza]

...how early do you get to the airport?

I have flown out of DTW only twice and both times we had luggage to check. I am planning a trip (2 adults only) where we will only have carry ons and we will check in online and print our boarding passes in advance. The last two trips, we arrived about 2 hours before our flight and it easily took a half hour to check our luggage. We cleared security in about 15 minutes...and that was with 2 strollers, a car seat, 4 bags, 2 laptops, a DVD player and 2 children under the age of 6. I'm thinking that, unless there is a huge line, it shouldn't take more than a half hour from arrival at the airport to arrival at the gate.

Do you think I would be OK if we showed up about 60-75 minutes before our flight? We are flying AirTran so I know that they start boarding 30 minutes in advance. We're looking at a 10:40am departure and we won't be arriving at our hotel in Detroit until about 1am so we want to get as much sleep as possible. I am assuming that with only carry-on luggage, we can enter the terminal and go straight to security, right? On our previous trips, we left on a Saturday, early afternoon. This time, we'll be leaving on a Thursday, if that makes a difference.

I personally would plan on being to the terminal about 1.5 hours in advance. That way, if you are a bit late, you still have some time.

Duds

 

[safetymom]

At least an hour and a half. You never know what delays you may encounter at the airport. I would rather be sitting at my gate than worrying if I am going to miss my flight.

 

[uva185]

Yeah, if you are doing carry-on only 60 minutes should be plenty of time. (Though I would shoot for 75 minutes in case you hit traffic on the way to DTW).

 

[DisneyObsessive]

Usually an hour and and a half, and even then ive never run into problems so yeah, usually waiting around 40 minutes or so to board. But, better safe than sorry you never know what problems you will run into to hinder your progress towards the gate!