When it comes to airports, you’re often either one of two people. You like to leave things to the last minute, trusting that the universe will have your back and you’ll be able to get through security rapidly without a care in the world.
Or, you’re someone who likes to arrive in excess of the recommended two hours (three if it’s a particularly busy time like school holidays). If it wasn’t frowned upon by your travelling partner, you might even want to be there four hours in advance, getting your nails done, treating yourself to a matcha (or something stronger), and browsing the book section.
Thanks to the ‘airport theory’ on TikTok, which many experts have recommended you not try, more people are trying to see whether they can be more like the former person, and arrive at the airport on a tight time schedule.
Katharina Bost tried the theory at London Stansted Airport, claiming that she arrived at 6.45 pm, when the plane was scheduled to leave at 7.30 pm. This left her just 45 minutes to do all the things she needed to do—including getting through the dreaded security queue.
At 6:48pm, Katharina was in the airport security queue, which looked quite busy. However, people must’ve been speedy, as by 6:5pm., she was ready and raring to look at the perfumes and cosmetics in duty-free.
She spritzed herself liberally with perfume, making the most of the testers that were available before she got on her flight.
At 7.04pm, she said that she “needed a matcha,” so she decided to go to Joe and the Juice to get her favourite one.
By nine minutes past, she’d secured her matcha and was drinking it as she walked to the airport gate.
She then arrived at the gate at 7.14pm, and was buckled up and ready to go on the plane by 7.22pm, looking rather pleased with herself.
However, in the comments, some were questioning whether the time stamps she’d provided as part of her video were actually real, wondering how she managed to get through the airport so smoothly, as they’d never had an experience like that before.
One man wrote: “There’s no way security took 15 minutes unless you got fast-track”. A fast-track pass allows you to skip the majority of the queue and rejoin it further down at the end of the line.
A woman responded saying to him: “The longest time I’ve ever spent in an airport security queue is about 15 minutes tbh”.
“You went through fast-track security, and then your plane was delayed,” someone accused her.
A TikTok user penned: “I’d be having a panic attack cutting it this fine,” and another wrote: “I’d literally be running”.
“It took me an hour to get through security at Stansted a few weeks ago, on a random Saturday afternoon,” somebody seethed.
Stansted Airport shares: “Always follow your airline’s guidance on how early you need to be at the airport before your flight. As a general guide, you will need to have checked in and be ready to go through security at least 2 hours before your flight departure time.”