Flight passengers are participating in the new viral trend, “airport theory,” with flyers arriving at their gates 15 minutes before their flights depart. A travel expert weighs in.
A viral trend has taken over social media showcasing a risky move made by many flight passengers.
Travelers are participating in the “airport theory” trend by arriving at their gates 15 minutes prior to departure.
A TikTok video shows a flyer setting a timer for 15 minutes as they walk toward security.
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The user, who was traveling with a large group of people, didn’t show if they had priority security.
After 13 minutes, the TikToker revealed that they successfully made it to their gate in time to catch the flight.
Another TikTok video shows a flyer testing out the trend at Los Angeles Airport saying, “It is currently 9:24 and my flight started boarding four minutes ago. We are at security right now so let’s see how fast we can get through this.”
The TikToker said security went quickly, but they needed to take a bus to transfer to the gate.
“My flight is just now boarding so we made it,” the user said, adding that the boarding process had been delayed.
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“Airport theory is true,” the user concluded.
Another TikTok user posted a PSA, saying, “for those of you thinking about testing out airport theory…” The user ended the video with a shot showing the gate monitor that read “flight closed,” meaning no more passengers were allowed to board, and the traveler missed the flight.
The user concluded, “don’t do it.”
Fox News Digital reached out to TikTok users who appear to be participating in the travel trend.
Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the blog “View From the Wing,” told Fox News Digital that people tend to show up at the airport too early.
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“The advice for when they need to arrive is too conservative. But ‘airport theory’ suggesting showing up 15 minutes in advance of departure is cutting it way too close,” Leff said.
“Airlines and airports give very conservative guidance because they [first] don’t want to be blamed by outlier cases where someone shows up closer to departure and misses their flight,” Leff added.
“And [second] they benefit from people who are there earlier, ready to travel and spending money at the retail shops while they wait,” he said.
Leff said there are many things to be factored in with airport arrival, such as access to expedited security like PreCheck or CLEAR and the number of bags being checked.
A TSA spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “We recommend that travelers arrive at the checkpoint two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international flight.”
“It all comes down to knowing how long the different pieces of the journey are likely to take, how much buffer your planning gives you, and just how bad it would be if you suffer a two-standard deviation event along the way,” Leff said.