The real reason why some people arrive at the airport ridiculously early
Like many good things in life, travel can occasionally be divisive. Even leaving aside the ferocious rows about overtourism, even seemingly innocent topics – think window vs aisle seat – can trigger passionate debates.
Typically these will be a matter of long-standing personal preferences. But when you travel with others – whether it’s family, friends or colleagues – you may find that your tried-and-tested airport routine is more contentious than you thought.
So what are the biggest travel debates? And what do they say about ourselves and those who take the opposing position?
How early should you get to the airport?
When it comes to catching a flight, travellers tend to split neatly into two camps: those who like to be at the airport hours before departure, and those who prefer to leave it late.
Some caution is understandable. Yet many travel experts agree that the old three-hour rule is getting ridiculous – particularly when you’re flying with only hand luggage and a mobile boarding pass on a short-haul budget airline.
So why do so many people still prefer to show up so early? “We learn a lot about travelling from the experiences we witnessed when we were children,” says Dr Mark Rackley, a chartered psychologist.
“If we had super-organised parents who left plenty of time to get to the airport, packed fastidiously and left nothing to chance, then we repeat that behaviour when we are adults.”
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Check in your bags or not?
If you’re flying with a budget airline, you may not have a choice on this one. But when it comes to longer flights, many have strong opinions on the merits of checking in bags.
Breezing through the airport unencumbered by luggage and coats may sound wonderful. But arriving to find your case hasn’t made it – a reality faced by more than one in 200 passengers each year – much less so.
Avoiding checking bags is generally the best option, advises frequent flyer Gilbert Ott, the editor of God Save the Points. “That said, once you’ve checked one bag, you may as well check them all,” he says.
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Queue to board – or sit back and relax?
So you’ve arrived at the airport, breezed through security, and got your gate number. Is it now time to join the line of passengers, to ensure you board as soon as possible – or do you sit back and let the queue go down?
Given that your seat has almost certainly been allocated in advance, I’ve always questioned the wisdom of the first option. But I’ve also travelled with people who prefer to queue, either to ensure they get space in the overhead bins or just because they prefer it that way.
“The choices one makes about travel plans are likely associated with how psychologically flexible or rigid they are as an individual,” says the psychologist Dr Patricia Britto.
“Disagreements between couples or families over things like this can often boil down to whether an individual is open to new experiences and other perspectives.”
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Airport hospitality or airline meals?
Let’s get the obvious point out of the way: no one thinks that airport restaurants are good value. But that doesn’t mean they’re such a dreadful option, particularly when you’re flying long haul.
Fussy eaters like me will know the disappointment of finding there’s nothing on the in-flight menu that takes your fancy. And that’s assuming you’re flying with a carrier that offers a choice in the first place.
It’s times like that when you end up wishing that you’d spent the extra on a bog-standard Wetherspoons meal when you had the chance.
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Window or aisle seat?
This one could stake a claim to being the oldest debate in modern air travel. And like other long-running conflicts, it hasn’t exactly mellowed with age.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, polls on this question have shown a sharp Brexit-like divide, with 53 per cent opting for the window seat and 46 per cent going for the aisle. In other words, this particular debate looks set to rumble on.
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Recline your seat or not?
While other travel debates deal largely with personal preferences, the great recline dilemma conjures questions of ethics and personal freedom.
We all know the drill: when the person in row one reclines their seat, the passenger behind them now has to choose between doing the same – potentially irritating the person behind them – or sacrificing some of their personal space.
In an age where many people travel with laptops, the recline debate has escalated even further, leading to fights between passengers and tricky questions about the liability of airlines when screens get broken.
“The general courtesy is to look behind to let someone know you intend to recline, and to be respectful if the person has their tray table out and is trying to eat,” says Ott.
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Taxi or public transport?
Depending on your destination, this one might not be much of a debate (who would pay for a taxi from Heathrow to central London, for example?). Yet many of us will still have a general preference for transport options.
For most European airports, I tend to opt for the cheaper bus or tram option, promising myself that the money that I save can be put to better use later.
Over in the US, taxi apps can often be gloriously efficient. Such as at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid International Airport, where drivers pull up to a giant square grid and your app will tell you which square (e.g. A1, B2 etc) to meet them at.
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Hotel or Airbnb?
Unlike some other debates, this one isn’t completely static. Indeed, if the response to this article is anything to go by, some former Airbnb enthusiasts have been switching their allegiance in recent years.
That said, the official numbers suggest that, far from slowing down, Airbnb is busier than ever, with a rise in older travellers using it.
Still, there’s no doubt that Airbnb has become more complicated, with a deluge of cleaning fees and a dominance of “professional” hosts sometimes making hotels the cheaper and easier option.
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Unpack or live out of your suitcase?
You’ve just got to your hotel after a long flight. What’s next on your list? For one dedicated tribe of travellers, the answer is obvious: open your suitcase and unpack.
For others, this option is unthinkable. Sure, the hotel may have spent time installing wardrobes and bathroom cabinets, but they needn’t have bothered. We’d rather live out of our suitcase.
Do these differences tell us anything about our underlying personalities? “Those who can live out of a suitcase are often more adaptable and comfortable with uncertainty,” says Avery Morgan, a productivity guru with education platform EduBirdie.
“This can be useful when dealing with stressful situations, but they may struggle with long-term planning or situations that require a lot of structure.”
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When to unpack when you get home
Does anyone really unpack as soon as they get back home? Apparently so. Indeed, proponents of this strange practice attribute their behaviour to a desire to demarcate formally the end of their holiday and the return of real life.
When you put it like that, it’s hardly surprising that plenty of us can think of nothing worse. Instead we prefer to leave our luggage festering away in a quiet corner until we get around to dealing with it.
