Airport theory: The new viral trend that has people missing their flights

By Maureen O'Hare, CNN

Was the raw dogging travel trend not spicy enough for you?

How about something more heart-pounding, more dangerous - and definitely not recommended by airlines?

We're talking about 'airport theory', a TikTok trend that invites people to arrive at the airport as little as 15 minutes before their flight boards.

The idea is that if you've checked in online and are travelling with just hand luggage, you can zip through security and make a beeline to your boarding gate, just in time for your fashionably late entrance to the airplane cabin.

Sounds more than a little perilous, right?

We spoke to content creators who've tried out airport theory and also found out what airports have to say.

Eighteen-minute dash through ATL

Airport theory is "about whether or not you really need to arrive at the airport within a certain period of time to catch a flight," says a neurosurgeon with 2.4 million TikTok followers. "Is it really necessary to arrive the two to three hours beforehand as recommended to make your flight?"

The concept is about people testing out airport theory and reducing the unnecessary airport wait time to as little as their nerves can handle.

Grunch gave the theory a shot when bad traffic and a luggage mishap meant she arrived at her local airport with around 26 minutes to spare before her boarding time.

That airport just happened to be Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the busiest airport in the world.

As a content creator, she instinctively got out her phone and started recording. "It doesn't slow me down at all. It's kind of a natural part of my life," she says.

Having grabbed a parking space, she headed up the escalator to security screening. "I kind of just quickly jogged. I think running in the airport draws a lot of attention to you," she says.

As luck would have it, her boarding gate was the one closest to her exit after security, and she says she got there in around 18 minutes.

"The biggest thing was that there were no lines," she says. Her bag did, however, get stopped at security and had to be pulled out for a routine check. "I thought that was just a little extra something that… the spirits gave to me, if you will, just to make me rethink my decision."

Testing with a safety net

Content creator James Shaw tested airport theory alongside his wife Terri and daughter Naomi at Tampa International, their local airport in Florida.

They did a risk-averse version rather than the full nerves-of-steel approach.

They arrived 90 minutes in advance, then for their video they used a stopwatch to time their airport journey. They got to their gate in under 13 minutes.

"We don't check bags, so we already had our carry-ons," says Shaw. "It was a good time to do it because it was a spring break week here, so it was one of the busiest days that Tampa airport had seen."

He adds, "We never ran, we walked the whole time. It was super simple."

The Shaws have TSA PreCheck, an expedited screening process for eligible US travelers, and without that they "definitely would have waited in security a lot longer. That line was really long that day," he says.

They also got lucky by catching the in-airport tram just before the doors closed, although, he says, "if we did wait, it would have added like 60 seconds to the amount of time it took us."

Grunch, who is a frequent business traveler, is also similarly prepared.

"I have PreCheck, Clear and Digital ID. So through any airport, I can try to get through security as quickly as possible. In Hartsfield, Digital ID is typically the fastest," she explains. "But that is something specific with Delta that uses facial recognition to get you through and most people haven't signed up for that."

The golden hour

For domestic flights at familiar airports, with PreCheck and no checked bags, Shaw and Grunch are both agreed on being "around an hour before departure" people.

"I think that travelling can be so stressful for so many people," says Shaw. "And so that's why we go, 'I need to be there three hours early or four hours early or whatever.' And I don't think you need to do that."

However, he thinks that people should do whatever they're comfortable with, particularly if they're not regular travelers. If "you're not sure, yeah, get there a little bit early so that you don't have to stress about it. And then go grab a cup of coffee or pay $22 for a bag of candy and just relax and enjoy your travel," he says.

What didn't make it into his Tampa airport video, he adds, is their timed trip to Starbucks after reaching the gate.

"It was over 25 minutes to get our cup of coffee," he says. "So if you want coffee and a plane, you cannot do airport theory."

Personality test

Our comfort levels with cutting it close come down to personality as well as experience.

Grunch says that unexpectedly testing out airport theory was "fun, to be honest".

As a neurosurgeon "fuelled by adrenaline" she says she's "super-competitive" and that she likes to win. She found it an "exciting" challenge.

Her husband, however, she describes as the "typical airport dad" who wants to arrive two to three hours ahead. "I would never try it with my husband because we would be divorced," she says.

Both Grunch and Shaw agree that they would never try the trend on an international trip, with the extra security processes involved and because the financial risks of messing up are even higher.

Many of the airport theory videos online have proved that it's possible to get to one's gate in just 15 or 20 minutes, but what those videos haven't proved is that you should.

The two or three-hour guidance is a "buffer for anything that happens that you just don't expect, whether it's weather, a malfunction in the trains or anything like that," a spokesperson for Denver International, the world's sixth busiest airport in 2023, told CNN Travel.

"TSA wait times can vary from airport to airport, and even from day to day within each airport, especially during peak travel times," said a spokesperson for Dallas/Fort Worth, the third busiest airport in the world in 2023.

Grunch, as a frequent air traveler who hates to wait, is not averse to repeating the experience on a tried-and-tested route.

"Me, myself, travelling alone - absolutely a believer, would do it again," she says.

Shaw is less convinced. "I am not a fan of airport theory. I think it's stupid. I wouldn't risk missing the flight. It's just dumb."

- CNN