June 03--Airlines might be chronically late, but passengers -- especially men -- generally arrive two hours before departure.
That's the finding of a poll by ground transportation provider Go Airport Express, which offers shuttle service to and from O'Hare and Midway airports.
More than 71 percent of its travelers surveyed said they arrive at the airport two hours before their scheduled domestic flights.
Men, at 75 percent, said they arrive that early, compared with 69 percent of women.
Far fewer, 31 percent of women and 24 percent of men, said they arrive just one hour before their flight times. Less than 1 percent of travelers said they like to arrive as late as possible, preferring to board the plane when they arrive at the gate.
"We can infer that travelers don't want to risk missing a flight due to unexpected delays such as traffic to the airport, long check-in and security lines," said John McCarthy, president of Go Airport Express.
However, passengers at Chicago airports often end up with even more time because of flight delays. In many months O'Hare and Midway have among the worst on-time departure rates in the country among large airports, although they haven't ranked at the bottom in recent months.
gkarp@tribpub.com
