Will be flying from nyc to montreal. Does anyone know how many hours one should arrive before an international flight to La Guardia airport? I have done domestic flights before and i know 2 hours would be plenty for an domestic flight even when checking luggage and then waiting in lines twice. The longest i had to wait in line to check luggage was 35 minutes in a very long line.
I will be checking luggage when i get there. Thus if my flight is at 12pm, what time would be fine? What if its at 10am? Does it depend if its early or later? I read online 3 hours is good but is that a bit too much? I know it depends on the airport but i want to know for La Guardia. Someone mentioned if you have no luggage 1.5 hours for an international flight is more than enough? Thoughts?
Does anyone know how long you have until you can check in your bags for international flight? I recall for domestic, it has to be done 30 minutes or 1 hour before the flight. What about international? Or is it the same line? I know for my domestic fllight, there were lot of people waiting in line at jfk when i was flying from jfk to another american city.
You could check the tickets or the carrier’s website; if the information isn’t there, contact the airline and ask. For international flights I’ve always allowed 3 hours, but I tend to be very cautious. I’d rather wait around the airport for an unnecessary hour than to have to rush and risk missing the flight entirely.
Two hours should be fine, but more never hurts. I fly a lot for work and like MLS I tend to be overly cautious. (I’ve been the guy sprinting through JFK to get to the jetbridge right before they close the door.)
The nice thing about going to Montreal is that US Customs will clear you for the return trip on the Canadian side. But not the other way around, sadly.
I fly to Panama regularly from La Guardia, and have never had a problem arriving two hours ahead. (However, my first flight is normally to Miami, then to Panama.)
If you have no luggage, or if you already have printed your boarding pass at home and just need to do bag drop, 1.5 hours shouldn’t be a problem except maybe around holidays.
I usually fly American out of La Guardia. I usually do on-line check in but haven’t printed my boarding pass. I get the boarding pass printed at the self-service kiosk and then go to bag drop. There are usually no more than a few people waiting to use the kiosks. Maybe 15-20 minutes to get the boarding pass and drop luggage, then 10-20 minutes in security.
In my experience, 3 hours would be excessive. I don’t know how early you can check luggage because I’ve never arrived much more than 2 hours before departure.
I just touched down in JFK from punta cana, Dominican Republic 3 hours ago. Had a nice week long resort vacation.
I was advised by the booking agent to arrive 2.5 hours before scheduled flight time. I heeded the advice and found it to be just about right.
On both legs of my round trip flight, it took about an hour to get checked in and clear security. Leaving me an hour to sit around and do nothing until boarding (generally thirty minutes prior to departure time).
While an hour may seem like a long time to languish in an airport, the peace of mind of knowing everything is in order is worth it.
Perhaps if I were an experienced traveler with precise knowledge of where gates were, what documents I needed, when they were needed, etc. then arriving 1.5 hours early would be more than suffice. But I found the luxury of not being rushed and panicked well worth the extra hour wait.
I remember standing in line at the checking, getting very irritated with the slow process since it was less than an hour for our flight to Toronto. No problem in the end.
This thanks to an irritating Newark to La Guardia shuttle bus episode that took 3 hours, most of it waiting for the van to arrive.
Really, not that different than a domestic flight if you have your US or Canada passport… Still, I would STRONGLY suggest arriving early rather than late. 2 hours should be good.
I would drive to Montreal from New York.
That’s about a six-hour drive, compared to a 90-minute flight.
Adding in getting to and from the airport, plus having to arrive two hours before departure, the actual time required to fly would be more like five and a half hours. It may depend on how much you enjoy driving vs. the hassles and wait time of flying.
That’s 90 mins travel in the air plus 150 mins at the airport beforehand, plus time to clear customs on arrival plus travel to and from the airport (say 30 mins each end). So you’re looking at 5 hours plus. So time-wise it’s almost the same.
Personally, I’d look for an overnight train. It’s an 11 hour journey by rail. Have they reintroduced the Adirondack sleeper service?
Did you call the airline and ask their advice?
In my experience, advice from the airlines may not match reality. The airline will probably take the most conservative approach. That’s fine if you want to be cautious, but the OP is asking about practicalities.
You have to clear customs if you drive, also. And Montreal airport is 15 minutes from town. Really, unless you are terrified of flying or have a long beard there is absolutely no advantage to driving for this trip.
I’ve done that flight numerous times over the past two years. At LaGuardia, the length of the lines at check-in and security varies widely (more so than a lot of airports I’ve traveled through), depending on time of day, day of the week, and whether it is a holiday in Canada. So:
- what airline?
- what day you flying?
- what time is your flight?