Cutting it Close Only Works if the Airport is 30 Min Away or Less
I was in the North Carolina mountains for a memorial service this weekend and I wanted to stay as long as possible (in fact I changed my flight). But it was Memorial Day so I figured I should give myself a little extra time to make the 2 1/2 hour drive back to the Greenville Airport.
Some times I’ve made it in as little as 2 hours and 15 minutes, so I figured if I gave myself 3 hours that should be sufficient for any possible delays. Thus I left a little before 3PM for my 7PM flight.
I hit my fair share of “sunday drivers” but then got behind two separate school buses. Not ideal, but I had built in the extra time so I was doing ok. Google Maps was showing several accidents on I-85, but I was hoping they’d have cleared by the time I got there.
Then 15 minutes later as I was winding through the Sumter Forest, I came to a stop. The two lane highway was completely shut down for an overturned vehicle. 20 minutes later (with no cell phone service) I was contemplating the probability I could change my flight again.
Fortunately the road reopened soon after and I was attempting to make up time with only an hour and45 til my flight boarded (and I was an hour out). I checked Google Maps on my phone and saw only one accident remained. 10 minutes later the status had been updated to “People on the road at MM 51.” Yikes!
A little while later I checked again…
Ack! What kind of accident was this!?
Fortunately it had cleared by the time I went through and I also got a call from United letting me know my flight was delayed by 50 minutes. Phew. Maybe I’d have time to make a quick stop for food. A few minutes later United called back, flight only delayed by 15 minutes now. Ack!
I did make it, but the stress wasn’t worth staying an extra 15 minutes. Planning to arrive at the airport only an hour ahead of time works if the airport is only 20-30 minutes away, but with a 2 1/2 hour drive I was cutting it too close.
What’s the closest you’ve cut it for a flight?
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I’ve been smarter in recent years, but before I knew better, I cut it *really* close on a PHL-LHR flight. I was used to flying from Harrisburg, a tiny airport 15 minutes away (and with no security waits ever), and only domestic flights at that. Leaving home 1 hour before the departure time was always adequate to drive, go through security, and still have time leftover for a snack and restroom break before boarding started.
Silly me thought a similar approach would work for my international flight…so I left class at 3:20pm, drove to the train station, took a 90min. train to Philadelphia, SEPTA transport from there to the airport, and figured it’d be no problem to make my 7:05 international flight from a busy airport. I made it but even as a naive traveler, I was feeling anxious!
I used to work for Am West and lived about a 10 minute drive to Sky Harbor (Phx) without traffic. On a Saturday night at 7:45 pm, I changed my mind and decided to go hang-out with a friend that was in Tucson. Unfortunately, the last flight for Tucson left at 8:10. I jumped in my car, put myself on the non-rev list while speeding to the airport, parked in the terminal garage where I had a permit, went thru the employee security line which was empty and actually made it to the gate with 5 minutes to spare. Got first class too! Had several flights like that but that was, by far, the closest and the only time I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it.
It takes me 10 minutes by cab to LAX and I take advantage of this way too often. My closest call was leaving my house just shy of an hour ahead of time when I needed to check a bag. I got to the UA desk one minute after it closed to accept luggage, but was able to politely ask for an exception…which was granted! Security with TSA pre-check made the rest a breeze.
I usually give myself an hour before the flights, but have had a similar experience when Delta texts me notifying the flight will be delayed by a decent amount of minutes. I will head back home, only to receive a text message saying that it’s only delayed by 5-15 minutes instead. Ack!
The closest I’ve been to the flight leaving and reaching the airport has been 20 minutes. That is always stressful!
Of course all these successful anecdotes are only going to encourage me 🙂
I can’t stand to be late for anything. I’m always at the airport 2 hours before flight time. If I had a 2 1/2 hour drive to the airport I’d be leaving my hotel 5 hours before the flight was scheduled. I can always find things to do in an airport. Either People watch, find food before I get on the flights and buy drinks.
I get worried on connections that connect to long flights. My poor mom is going to be waiting 5 hours in Frankfurt airport with me because I didn’t want to miss our Frankfurt to NYC flight due to a misconnection in Paris!