I once spoke to an off-duty First Officer about the cut-off times, and he told me that the limit was imposed to make sure that the load sheets, fuel and CG calculations are done and filed in good time. If a bunch of passengers and their bags turn up at the last minute, all the sums have to be done again, and there's enough flight deck paperwork to be done already, especially with 20-minute turnarounds.
One airport here in the UK often puts the status of the outbound flight to Final Call even before the inbound has landed, just to hurry passengers to the gate, where they then have to wait for 30 minutes or more.
bill daul
· 2 years ago
What is the justification for 3 hours before international flights. What happens there that doesn't happen on domestic flights. Most of my flights over the years are international...can't remember why there is a difference.
Hitesh Patel
· 2 years ago
I'd recommend 2 hours for domestic flights Robert. The added advantage of the early check in is the ability to pick seating of your choice (providing you're not flying Southwest and haven't done so at the time of booking). Ya know everyone loves those emergency row chairs...
Robert Scoble
· 2 years ago
Bill: lines for domestic tend to be longer because people have a lot more bags to check. Also the planes are a lot larger, which causes lines to be longer. Also the consequences for missing a flight on international are usually far worse than domestic. When flying to Seattle, for instance, there are several flights a day so if you miss a flight you usually just have to sit around for a couple of hours. When going overseas there might only be one flight every day and several days' worth might totally be booked so it might take you quite a few days to get where you want on international if you miss your flight.
Ano Nymous
· 2 years ago
Security lines can often be more than 30 minutes — in Atlanta this week I waited 45 minutes in the line.
Well, this is pretty fast, actually: I have been travelling a lot from Europe to Atlanta, and my average waiting time is more than 1 hour (up to 2 hours in bad days). Atlanta is the worst airport I have ever seen (having to collect you lugages, than to drop them again to take a sort of tube, and then collect them again is an example of bad airport ergonomy...).
Anonymous from Europe
vinnie mirchandani
· 2 years ago
Robert, I did 30K miles in April, have another 30K in June...I would give up on travel if I did not live in Tampa. From my door to airport gate, I can still on a good day make it in 30 minutes (and we live in a quiet neigborhood, on a canal, so enjoy the reason to live in Tampa - not in an apartment right next to airport). Only on certain times like Monday mornings, the TSA crawls. Certain terminals like that of Southwest seem to move more efficiently than Delta's. I print my boarding pass at home. I have the security routine down - the quart bag and all. And Tampa airport has free WiFi.
Yes, I am bragging about our airport. It is consistently rated in the top 5 airports in the country. Because they constantly innovate and are always investing in new screening, baggage and other technology.
But also to point out other airports, TSA and airlines can do much better...
...and that each of us can make a difference. Once at LAX only 2 X-Ray machines were open when 4 should have. I called for the TSA supervisor and showed him the $ 2.50 charge on our tickets and said there was no reason the other lines should not be open given the money we were all paying for the additional security. He opened another line. Another time the line was so long that I called SW reservations and had them connect me to their airport ops and told them half their planes would be delayed if they did not investigate what was wrong.
I was recently at Heathrow and the process is so broken - they only allow one hand bag (so add even more time at the arrival airport), you go through 2 passport checks, and 2 X-Ray's (one specifically for shoes). Last year I transited through Paris Charles de Gaulle twice - flew in on Delta, flew out on Delta. Ended up, we flew out on same equipment. Yet we were bused to a satellite terminal 25 feet away, made to go through security again, then walk back on tarmac onto same plane. Tell me that busing, and worse the walking back adds to security.
I am all for better security. But most airports the actual security takes a minute or a minute or a half. I wish it was 5 minutes. The rest of the lines can be fixed with better process and technology. But till us customers scream, all the waiting around will be sold as "security" time...
BTW - there is plenty of technology that can be deployed - see link below (and I wrote this 15 months ago, so things have evolved even more..at San Jose this week, I saw the Clear program machine but hardly anyone was using them.SFO has had it for a while now)...
BTW - another truism in the industry today ...many passengers have access to better weather and air traffic info than the average airline employee ...use it to advantage, or not as I failed to below...
I've been doing a lot of flying as well, mostly through Logan, Pearson, and JFK/LGA. And the only airline truism I've ever found is this "The plane is always delayed, unless you're running late, in which case they are miraculously on time."
The best time I've ever had though was using one of the empty courtesy wheelchairs at Logan. I road that thing around the airport for near 3 hours due to delays. I have EVDO, so I rarely get completely bored, but I realized something that every airport should have: a gym.
If we had gyms at the airports, I don't think a lot of people would mind being delayed. Get a quick work out in, burn off some of that travel food, and then be on your way.
Anyone have a similar idea for what airports need to keep people more entertained during delays?
Tate
· 2 years ago
A great site to check for flight status and other options is: mobile.flightstats.com. I've pulled it up several times on my Blackberry as I've been stuck in traffic on the way to the airport.
Paul J
· 2 years ago
The requirement to check in 10 minutes before departure is so that they can check in standby passengers. There are many passengers that reserve seats but don't show up, the 10 minute cutoff gives the airline time to fill these seats with standby passengers.
Mike
· 2 years ago
I've been using Skip from http://www.goskip.com. It keeps track of my flight information in real time. I've missed connecting flights before and it tells me where the airline has rerouted me and I'll have the information before I reach the gate. Keeps track of gates, delays and everything else. I dig it.
Nigel
· 2 years ago
I agree on Robert's times, though it depends on the airport & how well you know it :), eg. jfx United friday afternoon is always very fast ( fantastic service to ), but I arrive early anyway because I'm doing a domestic->international out of LAX. 3 hours international reason, security, post 9/11 has added an easy hour & made the terminal experience very unpleasant ( vs just unpleasant ). I recently tried one of those aweful looking neck pillows & swear by them now, avoiding jet lag to me relies primarily on relaxing, sleep when you can, keep track of the destination time, but don't push sleep patterns, if you feel tired sleep ( before around midday destination time ).
Miss Rogue
· 2 years ago
I totally agree with your times. Mine were absolutely minimum. I think if I had an EVDO card, I might not mind waiting an extra hour in the waiting lounge. :)
Mark
· 2 years ago
I usually fly business class, even for short flights, not just for the bigger, comfier seats but also for the lounge. Unfortunately, I find most of the lounges block UDP which breaks the IKE exchange needed for VPN. I haven't considered EVDO because 80% of my travel is international, where GSM rules the market.
Is EVDO widely available overseas?
skybus airlines
· 2 years ago
It all depends on the airport you're into. The best way to deal with the problem is avoid being in the situation itself. It's better sacrificing a few hours early rather than not getting on your flight.
All Comments
One airport here in the UK often puts the status of the outbound flight to Final Call even before the inbound has landed, just to hurry passengers to the gate, where they then have to wait for 30 minutes or more.
Well, this is pretty fast, actually: I have been travelling a lot from Europe to Atlanta, and my average waiting time is more than 1 hour (up to 2 hours in bad days).
Atlanta is the worst airport I have ever seen (having to collect you lugages, than to drop them again to take a sort of tube, and then collect them again is an example of bad airport ergonomy...).
Anonymous from Europe
Yes, I am bragging about our airport. It is consistently rated in the top 5 airports in the country. Because they constantly innovate and are always investing in new screening, baggage and other technology.
But also to point out other airports, TSA and airlines can do much better...
...and that each of us can make a difference. Once at LAX only 2 X-Ray machines were open when 4 should have. I called for the TSA supervisor and showed him the $ 2.50 charge on our tickets and said there was no reason the other lines should not be open given the money we were all paying for the additional security. He opened another line. Another time the line was so long that I called SW reservations and had them connect me to their airport ops and told them half their planes would be delayed if they did not investigate what was wrong.
I was recently at Heathrow and the process is so broken - they only allow one hand bag (so add even more time at the arrival airport), you go through 2 passport checks, and 2 X-Ray's (one specifically for shoes). Last year I transited through Paris Charles de Gaulle twice - flew in on Delta, flew out on Delta. Ended up, we flew out on same equipment. Yet we were bused to a satellite terminal 25 feet away, made to go through security again, then walk back on tarmac onto same plane. Tell me that busing, and worse the walking back adds to security.
I am all for better security. But most airports the actual security takes a minute or a minute or a half. I wish it was 5 minutes. The rest of the lines can be fixed with better process and technology. But till us customers scream, all the waiting around will be sold as "security" time...
BTW - there is plenty of technology that can be deployed - see link below (and I wrote this 15 months ago, so things have evolved even more..at San Jose this week, I saw the Clear program machine but hardly anyone was using them.SFO has had it for a while now)...
http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/deal_architect...
http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/deal_architect...
The best time I've ever had though was using one of the empty courtesy wheelchairs at Logan. I road that thing around the airport for near 3 hours due to delays. I have EVDO, so I rarely get completely bored, but I realized something that every airport should have: a gym.
If we had gyms at the airports, I don't think a lot of people would mind being delayed. Get a quick work out in, burn off some of that travel food, and then be on your way.
Anyone have a similar idea for what airports need to keep people more entertained during delays?
3 hours international reason, security, post 9/11 has added an easy hour & made the terminal experience very unpleasant ( vs just unpleasant ).
I recently tried one of those aweful looking neck pillows & swear by them now, avoiding jet lag to me relies primarily on relaxing, sleep when you can, keep track of the destination time, but don't push sleep patterns, if you feel tired sleep ( before around midday destination time ).
Is EVDO widely available overseas?