Flying? Hurry up and wait

Flying? Hurry up and wait With full flights, fewer airline workers and limited parking, Charlotte airport tells passengers to arrive 2 hours early These are systemwide recommendations from airlines on how early you should arrive to check in for a domestic flight. For international flights, the airlines advise arriving even earlier.

Seasoned travelers like Frank Spencer say the recommendation to arrive two hours early for flights from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport is overkill.

As chief executive of Charlotte-based Cogdell + Spencer Advisors, Spencer makes five to eight business flights a month and has learned a few tricks.

He prints out his boarding pass on the Internet, gets dropped off at the terminal an hour before his flight and doesn't check bags.

"The two hours seem unreasonable when that is certainly not the case at other airports," Spencer said. " ... If you're running a service with that kind of delay -- and it's not the case at airports across the country -- that says something is wrong."

Charlotte's airport has been known as passenger-friendly, with generally short lines and short walks to gates compared with many of the nation's other hubs.

But airport officials now are advising travelers to get to the airport two hours before their flight time -- 30 to 60 minutes earlier than the recommendation at some of those bigger, busier hubs. And US Airways, by far Charlotte's biggest carrier, says it's following the airport's guideline by passing that advice on to passengers.

Charlotte aviation director Jerry Orr said the new recommendation is due to heavy summer travel, fuller planes and the airport losing more than 700 long-term parking spaces to construction.

"If you come at a peak time like 8 o'clock in the morning, then you really do need to be there two hours ahead of time because the airport's jammed," Orr said. But at 10:30 a.m., he said, travelers sometimes can breeze right through.

More airline employees could help ease the long lines, he said, but with airlines losing money, it won't happen any time soon.

Other experts offer a variety of reasons why it has come to this at Charlotte/Douglas:

• This summer flying season is expected to be the busiest ever.

• Many leisure travelers fly just once or twice a year and are unfamiliar with the check-in kiosks airlines now use, slowing lines in the terminal.

• Flights are fuller, so more people are checking in at peak times.

• Fewer airline employees are helping passengers check in and resolve problems. Employment at major airlines is down 7 percent from last summer and 28 percent from early 2002. US Airways has cut more than half of its employees in the past four years.

• The Transportation Security Administration has reduced the number of screeners nationwide by almost one-fourth since 2002, though traffic is up.

• There's a parking crunch at Charlotte/Douglas. Some long-term spaces are unavailable while the airport builds a 3,000-space deck. Almost all of the airport's 20,000 long-term spaces are usually full midweek.

Those factors, plus bad weather, caused many Charlotte travelers to miss flights Sunday.

Systemwide, US Airways -- which has its biggest hub in Charlotte -- recommends domestic fliers arrive at airports an hour in advance.

Getting to the airport two hours early is on its way to being "the new norm" for many years to come, said Darryl Jenkins, an airline consultant.

"Get used to it," he says. "Over time, you will see airlines probably more likely to reduce the number of planes in the air than to expand them." Airlines will reduce staff accordingly.

"Now the airlines believe that your time belongs to them," said Joe Brancatelli, editor and publisher of business travel site JoeSentMe.com. "You have nothing better to do than show up two hours before a one-hour flight."

US Airways tries to deal with busy days by adjusting its staffing at Charlotte based on expected passenger traffic, said Mike Bryant, US Airways' director of operations and planning at the Charlotte airport.

The airline recently hired 300 employees in Charlotte, primarily to handle baggage to help with the summer traffic. Bryant said many are training and have not yet started work.

David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, said his organization began telling fliers to get to the airport earlier when planes started getting more crowded this spring. He says 90 minutes for domestic flights is plenty, but travelers can't go wrong arriving earlier.

"There are lines in the parking lot," he said. "There are lines at the ticket counter. There are lines at the security gate. There are lines even sometimes at the Starbucks. You have to wait in line at the gate."

What the Airlines Say

These are systemwide recommendations from airlines on how early you should arrive to check in for a domestic flight. For international flights, the airlines advise arriving even earlier. • CONTINENTAL AIRLINES recommends arriving two hours early if your flight leaves during what the airline calls "peak traffic hours": 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Charlotte is not on that list, but Raleigh-Durham and Atlanta are. The airline recommends 2.5 hours for domestic travelers from Newark on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

• AMERICAN AIRLINES lists 11 airports where passengers should arrive more than 90 minutes before flight time, including Atlanta, Philadelphia and Miami, but not Charlotte.

• NORTHWEST AIRLINES advises 75 minutes.

• UNITED says 90 minutes if you're checking a bag, 60 minutes if you're not.

Family

Sonja Hibshman and son Alex, 13, of Columbia were through check-in and security in 30 minutes. They were going to San Diego to say goodbye to Hibshman's other son, who is being deployed to Iraq. She was frustrated that it took her more than 15 minutes to park.

Young travelers

Kim Loftin was sending her two children, 8 and 11, and her cousin, 8, to visit their grandmother, and said flying was still better than driving to Michigan. They arrived an hour and 15 minutes before their Northwest flight.

Business traveler

Kevin Jennings, 51, of Spartanburg says the two-hour advisory is "ridiculous." He arrived one hour before his Northwest flight with his e-ticket already printed out and no bags to check.

Travelers' Tales

Passengers starting trips at Charlotte/Douglas are coping with longer-than-expected lines and waits to get to their gates during peak periods. Here's what some of them had to say Thursday morning.