How many hours before your flight do you arrive at the airport?
Thanks to everyone for answering! There were a lot of interesting replies.
I'm about 2 hours, but I've got a wide variation -- from 3 hours to 1 hour plus a few seconds.
I usually aim for 2 hours, but I don't always get it right. I also make the mistake of thinking that I need to be on the *grounds* of the airport 2 hours ahead of time, rather than *checked in with baggage dropped off* 2 hours ahead of time.
Especially if I have a rental car, this can be a big difference.
@evan Years ago I was flying from CNF to GIG with a conference mate and CNF is a horrible airport in the middle of nowhere. My mate was the type of person who likes to arrive at the last minute and swore everything would be fine. It wasn’t, we missed the flight and had to wait for the next one, for like 5h - it would be impractical to go back to the city, etc.
This is to say: now I always make a point of arriving 3h early no matter what.
@evan I'm with you - 2h before leaving my ride is fine, through security more than 1h before departure is what I aim for.