How early should I get to the Airport?

[Dedpuhl]

I haven't been to an airport since 1994. How early should I get there to check in? I will be flying out of New Orleans International on Nov 20th and out of Indianapolis on the 30th.

Also, I've checked previous posts and no one has mentioned expedia when purchasing tickets. Does anyone have any good/bad experiences when using expedia?

 

[guyver01]

arrive at least 2hrs early to give time for check in and security check points.

 

[iamwiz82]

2 hours or so. It really depends on the time of the of the flight and how busy the airport is.

The last tickets we got were through Expedia and we had no issues. If oyu arrive really early, ask the person at the ticket counter if you can be upgraded. We have been upgraded 4 out of 6 times

 

[vi edit]

Last three ticket purchases I've had were with expedia. No issues with them.

As for the time to get to the airport...very hard to say. The last 4 times I've flown this year, an hour would have been more than sufficient. This was both at O'hare and smaller regional airports.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Just get their 2 - 1.5 hours early.

 

[Dedpuhl]

I was looking on expedia and have another question:

What is the difference between "1 stop" and "connect in X_City"

Does the connect mean that there will be a plane change?

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Dedpuhl
I was looking on expedia and have another question:

What is the difference between "1 stop" and "connect in X_City"

Does the connect mean that there will be a plane change?

yes, there will be a delay at that airport while you move planes. It can be a PITA depending on how long the layover is.

 

[Savij]

The best thing to do is call your airline the day before as suggested times vary with the airport. Here in Nashville, they suggest 45 min early, in orlando i usually get 1.5 hours before the flight.

 

[RossMAN]

At least 1.5 hours, or 2 hours just to be on the safe side.

 

[KarenMarie]

I work in the industry.

Check in is one hour for domestic and two hours for international.

KarenMarie

 

[spliffstar69]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
2 hours or so. It really depends on the time of the of the flight and how busy the airport is.

The last tickets we got were through Expedia and we had no issues. If oyu arrive really early, ask the person at the ticket counter if you can be upgraded. We have been upgraded 4 out of 6 times

When you got the upgrade was free of charge?

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: spliffstar69

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
2 hours or so. It really depends on the time of the of the flight and how busy the airport is.

The last tickets we got were through Expedia and we had no issues. If oyu arrive really early, ask the person at the ticket counter if you can be upgraded. We have been upgraded 4 out of 6 times

When you got the upgrade was free of charge?

Yes. This was with United.

 

[vi edit]

When you say upgraded, do you mean from coach to business?

 

[damiano]

for national flights Iusually go about an hour before
it's enough

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
When you say upgraded, do you mean from coach to business?

yes. First class was always full Even Business Class is worth it. That extra 3 inches or so is veeeery nice. Plus there were no kids in business class.

 

[Norrlands]

I fly all the time, and I rarely show up more than an hour early. If you can get your boarding pass online the hour is sufficient, but if you have to check in at the airport, I would go with an hour and a half. It all depends on the time of day however. I've stood in line to check in golf clubs at O'hare around 4, and I was in line an hour. I was going to just sit in the bar and get liquored up before my vacation anyway, so it was good that I showed up early.