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Me_irl
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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me_irl
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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.
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.