Security Wait times at Buffalo airport??

[laura001]

If you have flown out of Buffalo recently, how long has it taken for you to get through the airport security line on either a Wednesday or Thursday???

Thanks

 

[mkmommy]

We flew out the Thursday afternoon before spring break and it was busy, but it did not take more than 15 minutes.

 

[Sharptooth]

We have flown out of Buffalo 3 times with the longest wait being 15 min.

 

[Ham Ham]

Sunday March 9, 2008.

30 minute wait

Small airport, small TSA staff.

 

[NikP]

I think it also depends what time you are flying out. We took the first flight out to Orlando on Wednesday October 3,2007 and we waited 45 minutes in line for security. Many people in line were talking about missing their flights. We even saw two people begging the security officer at the front of the line to let them ahead because they had been paged and were about to miss their flight. The airport staff just told them, sorry you should have been here earlier.

We arrived at the airport at 5:45am for a 7:00am flight. It took us 5 minute to navigate the airport (first time flying from Buffalo) 10 minutes to check in bags, 45 minutes in security. I was worried that we would miss our flight when I saw the line. We only had about 15 minutes to spare. I am glad we had those A boarding passes!!

I am interested to find out if it is always like this on the first flight out?

 

[OntFamily]

TSA has a great website showing the average wait times.
http://waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/stateResolver?state=NY

We flew out of Buffalo three weeks ago, early on a Sauturday morning. The lineup was almost to the exterior door - but it only took us about 20 minutes to get through the lineup.

 

[jtconn]

We have flown twice this past year, once in May a Friday depart and Dec a Thursday depart both times waits were about 10-15 mins for security Both flight depatures were around the late morning 10am to noon mark. As with most airports the earlier in the morning thru the week your departing the more you are dealing with business trip departure volumes

We love buffalo for the ease of getting in to the airport and for its size, also the onsite parking shuttle staff were great

hope this helps

 

[SaraMc]

Flew out in Feb for a noon flight, got there at 10am like the nice TSA people asked me to. It took me about 3 minutes to go through security.

Also one thing I love about BUF is that they put the stroller people with the wheel chairs. Last year when we went to WDW with DS we went through that line and it was MUCH faster even with having to take him out of the stroller and fold it down ect.

 

[jmtf2004]

This is what they say on the BUF website http://www.buffaloairport.com/
'Departing passengers should plan to be in the terminal two hours before their scheduled departure, particularly during the exceptionally busy times of 5-7:30 a.m., 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m.'
Your wait time is highly dependent on the day of the week, time of year and time of day you are traveling. This is evident in the responses posted so far - with time estimates ranging from 3 minutes to significantly longer.
I would say that it's much better to err on the side of caution, get there a little early and sit a while at the gate, than to get stuck somewhere in line (we have been stuck in traffic for a bit on the road leading to the airport, had to drive around a bit to find parking and then had some relatively long lines for security) then end up late for your flight.
We have not ever missed a flight, hopefully won't in the future either

 

[OatsZoo]

I agree with the other posts. We had a 6:45 flight to Orlando out of Buffalo. We are from Niagara Falls so left here at 4am. (Thank goodness as we had bad fog that morning) We got to the airport and into the terminal around 5am and it was already busy. We lucked out though, they put us in the seniors/wheelchair line up as we had small children with us. Still by the time we found the terminal we only had to wait about 45 mins. Just enough time for a coffee.

We plan on doing the same this trip, we hope with all the new security procedures that it won't be too crazy there though.

Good luck.

 

[mickeywho?]

Flew out Sunday, March 9. The lineup for security wound all around and the end had doubled up around the South West counter. It took us 45 minutes to get through - not bad considering I guess...The line moved fairly quickly and I found the security to be more thorough than other security checks that I've been through recently including Orlando.
In Buffalo, someone was walking along and taking families with young children and moving them into the special line on the side - only if they had a young one in a stroller though. A family a bit ahead of us said their youngest was four and could they please move lines and were told no! - that the line was for those in wheelchairs and with kids in strollers so that they did not have to be lifted out for screening - regardless of age. So beware of that in case you think that a youngster may be a ticket out of a long line - put them in a stroller for all your sanity!