I haven't flown for four years - security question

[beenben]

Do you really have to be at the airport 3 hours before your flight? flying out of Minneapolis St. Paul on America West.

going to AZ to see the Grand Canyon President's Day weekend. It's a 9PM flight.

[Brainwalter]

No, who said you did?

[beenben]

travelocity.com itinerary confirmation

"Travelers are advised to arrive at the airport 3 hours ahead of their departure time due to significant delays caused by new security procedures."

[ballin4life]

2 hours is fine in my experience.

[fmxda]

1-1.5 hours before departure should be fine, generally, unless of coures it's a busy travelling time such as Thanksgiving or Christmas.

[El Diablo]

bb,

http://waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/index.html

With no baggage to check, for domestic flights I generally show up at airports an hour before departure time, 90 minutes if it'll cause a real problem if I miss my flight or if it is a real busy travel time.

[James Boston]

[ QUOTE ]
With no baggage to check

[/ QUOTE ]

El D or anyone,

You still carry-on? Do you actually buy the little bottles of all the stuff you can only have 3oz of, or whatever the amount is?

[El Diablo]

JB,

Occassionally I will find myself shelling out $2 or $3 for some toothpaste or shaving gel at an airport stand, a Walgreens, or a hotel gift shop. Sometimes it's travel size and I stick it in my bag, other times I throw it away before returning home. The 3oz restriction has never posed a big challenge to me. If for some reason I were overly stressed about this (perhaps a weekend trip to Botswana or something), a quick visit to the "travel sized toiletries" section of my local Walgreens or Safeway would soothe my nerves.

[chopstick]

It depends almost entirely on the airport itself and the time of your flight. I've shown up at the airport 20 minutes before boarded ended, and been sitting around at the gate because my seating assignment hadn't been called yet. I've also shown up 2+ hours in advance and barely made it onto the plane.

I'm not familiar with your airport, so I don't have anything constructive to offer there, but I can say that leaving very early or very late will probably shave off a significant amount of the time you'd otherwise be spending in a security line.

[mrkilla]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With no baggage to check

[/ QUOTE ]

El D or anyone,

You still carry-on? Do you actually buy the little bottles of all the stuff you can only have 3oz of, or whatever the amount is?

[/ QUOTE ]

I fly every weekend and I hate to check bags. Just use travel sized stuff instead of bringing your full bottle of hair gel.

The only thing I ever seem to have a problem with is cologne since I don't have many smaller sized bottles