This One Travel Tip Will Save You Hours at European Airports
Deciding when to leave for the airport is a delicate balance—you don’t want to leave too early and waste hours waiting around, but going too late could mean missing your flight.
One of the biggest wild cards in this decision is the security line. Depending on the airport, getting through security can take anywhere from five minutes to over two hours, and it's usually impossible to predict—unless you're flying through certain European airports.
At some airports, you can check live security wait times on the airport’s website. Unlike the TSA’s estimates for U.S. airports, which are actually “maximum historical wait times,” according to a TSA spokesperson, these real-time updates reflect the actual current wait. That makes them much more reliable for planning your trip and deciding when to head to the airport.
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European Airports With Live Security Wait Times
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The airports that have live security wait times are:
I recently put Bologna Airport’s security wait time estimates to the test. Since I had already checked in online, I began monitoring the airport’s website about three hours before my flight. The estimated wait time consistently stayed below 10 minutes, so I waited until two hours before departure to leave for the airport. When I arrived, I timed the process myself, and sure enough, the estimate was spot on. I was through security in just eight minutes.