Plane Passenger Wants To Know Why People Get To The Airport 3 Hours Before Their Flight

If you've ever flown before, it's likely you've prepared way earlier than you had to and went to the airport hours before your flight. Between TSA lines, checking baggage, and boarding pass snafus, it's better to be early than on time. Right? One woman begs to differ.

Study abroad student Rebecca Nolan was confused as to why people get to the airport two to three hours early before their flights. She argued that sitting around a terminal is just wasted time. As an avid traveler, she said she would much rather spend time at home chilling.

A plane passenger was curious as to why people get to the airport three hours before their flight.

Nolan has been a study abroad student for three years and has traveled to over 20 countries, so it's safe to assume she's had quite a bit of airport experience. 

However, it seems her traveling pursuits have not made her understand those who choose to prepare for their flights hours in advance. "No, like, what's the reason you guys go so early??" she asked in text overlay for a recent TikTok video.

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Commenters let her in on the reasons they prepared for their flights so early.

"Things can always happen though, I'd rather be early and prepared and have enough time to deal with those things if they do happen," the most liked comment read. "Better to be early than late and miss my flight lol," another commenter said.

"Why chill at home, then rush to the airport??" a third commenter asked. "Just chill at the airport. What are you doing at home for those few minutes that's so important?"

The old adage "better safe than sorry" seems to sum up the reason many choose to arrive earlier than they need to, and it may be wise to apply it to your own travels. According to AirAdvisor, you should arrive at the airport at least an hour before domestic flights, but 90 minutes to two hours is recommended. With 20 to 30 minutes for bag drop or check-in, 30 minutes for security, and 10 to 20 minutes for finding the gate, you'll have about 30 minutes of wait time at the gate and then finally boarding.

For international flights, AirAdvisor stated it's best to arrive at least three hours before your flight because long-haul planes have more passengers which means longer boarding times and security lines. International terminals are also larger than domestic ones, which means longer walks to the gate.

You also never know if TSA will take longer than you expect or whether you might get held back for not having proper documentation. Although, it seems Nolan might have learned this lesson on her own.

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In a video posted about a week after her original video, the passenger shared she ran into difficulties when boarding.

Nolan said that while she usually arrives at the airport 30 to 45 minutes before her flights, she decided during a recent adventure to arrive 90 minutes before her flight instead. It turned out to be a good decision.

"They wouldn't let me on my flight because apparently my visa is expired (even though it's getting renewed)," she wrote in her video. "Then I couldn't bring a purse, backpack, and carry-on and had to stuff it into one. Then I got pulled over at TSA and had to go through all my stuff."

While it may seem extra to arrive at the airport hours early, it may benefit you greatly since you can never be sure about what challenges you may run into. So next time you have a flight to catch, maybe try getting there earlier than you think you need to.

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Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.