Im a stress head and being late is a serious pet hate of mine but, unless told otherwise, I will get to the airport 2hrs before departure time, dont like to be there too long before and at our airport, there is not really a lot to do (although there is now a airside smoking area but there are no screens or announcements so that freaks me out too ). Hubby and I are complete opposites. Im stressed eric watching the screens, panicing, pacing, sweating, cant eat or drink etc and hubby will just sit there with a paper, a bacon sarnie and beer not a care in the world and shake his head at me. As soon as the gate number is called/on screen im up and running - literally - for it with hubby meandering behind me. Im like a cat on a hot tin roof until we are well up in the air and on our way.

Im stressed eric watching the screens, panicing, pacing, sweating, cant eat or drink etc and hubby will just sit there with a paper,

Sounds like us too

There is absolutely no reason to get to the airport 4-5 hours before your flight. Most check in desks don't normally open until 3 hours before, which is more than enough for me. I then head straight to one of the executive lounges and relax there.

I like to get there 3 or 4 hours before the flight, I love the airport it starts the holiday off for me

As we usually fly from Aberdeen for a connecting flight at Heathrow or Gatwick, we like to give ourselves at least 4 hours between flights( on the way out) incase of any Aberdeen delays). Then we had the misfortune to have our holiday booked a couple of days after T5 opened. BA cancelled our first Aberdeen flight and stuck us on the next, which they then delayed by an hour and a half. Before boarding a lot of the passengers asked if it was actually worth taking the flight down. We were all told we would be fine. Needless to say, most weren't. We were lucky as on landing they told us to run to the gate. Got on the plane and definitely had the cold stares from passengers. Felt like yelling out- don't blame us, blame BA!! BA of course did not get our luggage on the flight, or the next, or the next... infact they managed to send it out to Mumbai two days after we had arrived home- but that's another( well documented ) story on the Goa forum.
So its not always the passengers at fault.

The idea of spending more than two hours on an airport fills me with horror. I've had some enforced waits over the years (8hrs on Phuket with neither shops nor cafes open for the majority of the time, Ho Chi Min 7hrs with only hard plastic chairs to sit on etc etc,). The less time spent on an airport the better as far as I'm concerned.

most of the time though the security rules mean they want you there 3 hours in advance...

Feebee wrote:

There is absolutely no reason to get to the airport 4-5 hours before your flight. Most check in desks don't normally open until 3 hours before, which is more than enough for me. I then head straight to one of the executive lounges and relax there.

I agree there isn't a need to but I love it - I like to be early as OCD about being on time especially for holidays, would lick myself if accident on motorway or something etc, and I love to go around the shops and look at the take off landings the whole thing - I like the hustle and bustle of airport

Always there at least 3 hours before, and a few years back, when we arrived at the airport to find that the passports were in the hall at home - we were glad. Hubby & BIL drove half way back to meet our daughter who had brought the passports, and we were through security with time still to spare for a drink at the bar. Not a process I'd like to repeat in a hurry.

I'm with Judith on this.
I detest being any longer than necessary at the holding bay for the cattle, and if I've to be there 2 hours before, then 2 hours it is.

I recently took an internal flight in Australia and considering to get from one side of OZ can be the equivalent of flying from the UK to Spain, it was a joy to be there one hour before departure and treat like a human being instead of a criminal.
A simple 3 hour flight to Spain turns into an 8 hour ordeal these days.

Justval wrote:

most of the time though the security rules mean they want you there 3 hours in advance...

I have no problem with 3 hours, it was the 4 - 5 I was commenting on. Fiona I agree with connecting flights you also need to build in time for all eventualities.

Last November I left home at 7am, arrived at Manchester airport 20 minutes later and was through check in and had cleared security at 7.45

I hate flying and airports but hubby insists (quite rightly) that we should be at check-in at the correct time. However, even the best laid plans can go wrong and some years ago we got to the airport in good time, but as a nervous flyer I needed the 'loo' before we checked-in. As usual the Ladies had a (very) long queue and by the time we got to check-in we were virtually the last couple. Hubby was foaming at the mouth and to make matters worse the check-in computers went down for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually they came back on-line and with a huge smile the girl behind the desk apologised for the delay, thanked us for our patience and upgraded us to First Class! I have never let him forget this, but unfortunately it has never happened again.

Rosalyn

I hope it was a really long flight Babs, so you could take full advantage of all of the extras.

Judith wrote:

I hope it was a really long flight Babs, so you could take full advantage of all of the extras.

Absolutely