Wow, this is literally describing me. I also probably won’t sleep the night before lol.
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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me_irl
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I seem to be one of the few people who actually enjoy my time in an airport...
It is fun to watch the planes come and go, to see people heading all over the world, it is interesting to see destinations all over, also, in larger airports, the architecture can be quite interesting.
I also like the feeling of being on a video game quest, you have a single main quest, to get on the plane, but you may have several side quests, getting snacks, eating, getting a powerbank, getting some tax free stuff.
The only thing I dislike is that the food is expensive and disappointing.
Airports are strange and liminal places where the perception of time itself starts to break down. Flying long-haul is the only time you can somehow eat five meals in the same 'day', and airport bars are the only places that serve beer at 7AM and nobody thinks anything of it, because 7AM to one person might feel like 7 at night to the guy waiting for his layover from Singapore. It's weird but kinda fascinating.
Agreed, but it is also loud and busy.
You’re not alone, I feel the same way. I love the act of traveling almost as much as getting to my destination. I really like your quest description! I always look at it like a game. Figuring out the secret ways in the airport, gaming the system.
I did this last week. And in a moment when I wasn't paying attention, they changed the gate, causing me to have to jog across the airport a few minutes before boarding.
The only thing I will add is that even though most of the stress is gone by being there early I am still super on edge constantly checking to make sure i really am at the correct gate or make sure it wasnt moved or delayed.
Can't commit to any intervening activity if you have something time sensitive and hard to reproduce in the immediate future.
And then 30 minutes before your flight you hear an announcement saying it will now depart from the gate at the other side of the airport.
I dunno how I've been so lucky in the past. But I got to the gate just as they were doing final boarding twice, TWICE. And I'm usually an hour and a half early type. Fucking smartphones and their malfunctioning alarms!
Fucking smartphones and their malfunctioning alarms
I got got by this too many times, so I bought a digital alarm clock at the thrift store, a cheap old thing from the '80s. It reliably blares FM radio at me every morning and I haven't missed an alarm since.
Sounds like perfect timing to me. Everyone else spent an hour+ sitting in an airport chair and you got extra sleep.
The first time I was actually at a bar across from the gate and a couple dudes were buying shots for everyone and I just didn't hear initial boarding and barely heard the last call. It was a pretty comfortable flight though.
I have never once missed a flight, or even arrived less than 30 minutes early for one. But I have frequent nightmares where I am in the security line at the airport or in a car driving towards the airport and my plane is departing without me.
Even if you manage to do everything right, your brain will still never let you not be anxious about it I guess.
I feel called out.
lol, my wife and I have been on enough flights we just get there 45 minutes to an hour before and walk on the plane as boarding starts, maybe a bit earlier than that if we want food in the airport. There’s really no need to get to the airport so early, especially if it’s an airport you’ve been to before.
Depending on the airport that's playing with fire. One time at SeaTac I showed up 3 hours early because I woke up early and was like fuckit not like I have anything else to do. I baaaarely made it to my flight because apparently there was a game and I showed up while everyone was going back home so the lines through security were absolutely fucked
My wife and I are usually the 3 hours early type, and the one time we carpooled with her parents who are more like you, something had gone wrong at the TSA stations, and only 2 were open, causing a huge slowdown with the line going well past the zigzag ropes and down the hall.
We barely made it on the plane before they closed the doors. My wife and I agreed then that 3 hours will always be our time. Neither one of us minds sitting at the airport and chatting instead of sitting at home chatting - it barely makes a difference.
I'm a 45-minute guy at most airports (some have a lot more walking or require a train/shuttle between the drop off and the actual gates and I adjust for that). Yes, I occasionally experience something like what you describe, but in the end I still get on the plane, like it sounds like you did.
So I interpret your story as one of the success of the just in time strategy.
Missing a flight is flat-out unacceptable to me. I know you can reschedule or whatever, but no, I'd never even consider letting that be a possibility. A near-failure isn't success, success is when you get there without the thought of missing the plane even crossing your mind. For me and my wife, that happens at the 3 hour mark.
I mean you’re definitely succeeding at wasting a lot of time, but you were never “near failure”. Airports are incredibly efficient at getting passengers onto their planes, even if they arrive only 45 minutes before. That’s why the last time for checked baggage is 45 minutes before the flight. If your bag is making it onto the plane then you’re making it onto the plane.
Like the other person said, missing flights occur due to other factors way more than they ever will from having security take too long.
Sure if you’re doing literally nothing three hours before your flight then whatever, have fun in the airport. But a lot of us have other stuff to do. Like pack for the trip. 😜
I literally had to run as they were calling my name over the intercom. If that's a normal Tuesday for you, I'm glad I'm not you. And yeah, of course I have 3 hours to kill doing "nothing," it's exactly the same as what I'm doing now. I can browse the fediverse, watch videos, play games, or just have a nice conversation with my wife. I feel no obligation to be productive to the point where I need to squeeze out 2 more hours of activities just so that I can risk having to run to catch a plane. What you do with your time is up to you, but I've never regretted sitting peacefully with my wife for a few hours in an airport.
A near-failure isn't success, success is when you get there without the thought of missing the plane even crossing your mind.
Oh don't worry, the thought of missing the flight doesn't cross my mind, either.
I've missed one flight in my life attributable to my late arrival to the airport. I've had maybe 10 flights outright canceled for weather, maybe 20 or 30 significantly delayed for one reason or another not in my control. I've missed connections maybe 10 times because my flight didn't arrive early enough to catch the connecting flight (and twice I've made it while my checked bags didn't). So to me, I'm not emotionally tied to the times on the itinerary, and don't feel any kind of inherent need to stick to those times.
The other thing, too, though, is that I'll never schedule a flight that barely arrives in time for the actual reason I'll be flying. I tend to fly the night before for even late morning meetings, and I always fly the day before for weddings and things like that. For afternoon things I'll sometimes fly the morning of, but will want to bake in at least 4 or 5 hour buffer for air travel delays. So maybe that's the actual path where the concern flows for me, rather than worrying about me getting on the plane.
Lounge lizard here. You best bet I'm getting there 3 or 4 hours early so I can drink prosecco, eat chicken thighs (it's always chicken thighs), and play my steam deck. Maybe have a dessert and a coffee. Make sure all of my electronics are charged full and my bowels are empty.
Also depends on the airport. I have been in some pretty small old lounges before, but the other option is sitting around in a hotel room for a couple hours? I suppose I could putz around the city I am in with my luggage for a bit but that doesn't seem like much fun either. But that's only a concern on the flight home. The flight out is going to be LGA every time it can be and I am going to maximize my time in the Centurion Lounge.
Ah, to be one of those people who could afford to eat in a restaurant in an airport...
Thats by design
Being a stupid ball of anxiety at all times is by design?
I don't see how. You can't do security checks at home. You can't deposit your luggage five minutes before the plane takes off.
Now what did improve it is self check in with baggage drop off, and what could improve it further is live updates on queues.
Do watcha gotta do. Traveling will be made unbearable - been enduring the horrors of greyhound bus since the 90s and its already getting palpably worse
Three hours early, time to squeeze 5 or 6 pints in.
Mom energy
My goal is to waste as little time as possible. I once timed it so as to not break stride till on the jetway.
3 hours is rookie numbers.
I don't really feel anxiety about missing flights. Flights get canceled, delayed, rerouted all the time, so the itinerary I purchase is one I internalize as some kind of suggestion of how I might get to my destination.
I also generally aim to be at the airport 45-60 minutes before takeoff. I think I've missed one flight in my life, caused by a security line delay of over an hour, but was a city pair that the airline runs basically every hour, so I still managed to get on a flight to my destination immediately after getting through security. So I haven't learned any lessons, much to my wife's dismay.