Not to be at the airport 2 hours before my flight

Queus can be ridiculous. Don't risk it.

Hi, I have flown in and out of Bristol many times. If you get to the airport an hour in advance you should be fine BUT sometimes there are bad accidents on M5 everyone arrives at the same time and there are delays. I have missed late afternoon flights a few times. If it is a cheap flight and that is the only way of doing it I would risk it but bear in mind you will be unlikely to get on the next flight or it will be very expensive.

There is no annoyance annoyinger, no frustration frustratinger than the annoyance and frustration of arriving at a check-in desk two minutes after the flight closed, knowing that if you'd built in more contingency you'd've made it and now you're going to be at the airport for bloody hours trying to organise another way to get to where you're going and you have absolutely no one to blame but your stupid self.

....er....I expect.

I’m assuming the OP may be in a job which isn’t flexible enough that she can just leave an hour early, so is trying to preserve her leave as much as possible.

I'd rather be too early than too late. Basic common sense.

Why so aggressive?

Use bristol a lot and always have fast track. I would not risk less than 90 minutes. Plenty of time fir a cuppa and then stroll to the boarding gate

We fly from Bristol around 3 or 4 times a year. A couple of flights ago, the queue to get through security was absolutely terrible. One poor chap tried to sneak under the tape barrier (he was obviously running a bit late for a different flight to us) and he was sent to the back of the queue by a marshal. We always allow plenty of time for long queues and traffic. It's tedious - but better than missing a flight. Oh - and last Saturday, M and S was closed for refitting so I couldn't get my usual gluten free sandwich from there.

Why take this tone? The OP only asked about timings as she hasn’t flown for quite a while.

Yabu Why are you so special that you cant comply with going to the airport two hours ahead of flight time?!

You can leave it as close as you like as long as you don't get too upset if you miss your flight. I have worked in airport (admin) and have seen MANY people unable to fly due to a hold up on the motorway, cancelled train, long queue in security, and countless other reasons. For the sake of an hour just get there with time to spare. Surely you can amuse yourself for that long. Take a book, have a coffee. Allow yourself a bit of time to relax. Or just ignore and hope for the best, but don't expect sympathy of it turns to shit.

Traffic around airports can be appalling, gates can shut early or be miles away. Security can have a big bulge if you're behind a big flight.

Personally, 2.5 hours and have a coffee and people watching. Just to be sure.

Wow fast track security? Definitely going to do that next time I fly, ( not that I do very often)

Why is being at airport 2 hours ahead a problem for you? Unless flight delayed, 2 hours isn't always enough time, checked in bags easier sometimes than non, all the security checks making sure no metal on you taking shoes off etc any liquids you have, you'll be lucky 2 hours enough and also getting to the airport, same problem for us once going to Manchester normally about hour from where we were still gave ourselves 3 nearly missed flight except was delayed 🙏 didn't help airport parking was a mission from where we were and a bank holiday Friday ( didn't think that one through) always better to be early. And all routes to Bristol can be hell

I've flown from bristol a few times in the last year, normal security has varied a lot in relation to how quickly it moves. As a pp said some of the gates are quite far away too and they close them well before the flight, so if you've got a 7pm flight you'd actually need to be boarding by about 6.20.

How are you planning on getting there, if it's parking at the silver service for example if you just miss one bus it's another 15 minutes to wait, plus the travel time so could make all the difference.

You might be able to do it if you parked at the airport itself (is expensive though) and paid for fast track security, it took me like 3minutes from the time I walked through the airport door to departures last time when I did that, and it's only £6.

It’s up to you but I am currently at a wedding where 12 guests missed their flight. Half flew the next day and half gave up.

Usually they will board the plane at least 30 minutes before take off.

I think one hour really is pushing it - you are assuming no queues anywhere and pretty much that you sail through everything straight on to the plane. If you are a business traveller with a genuine under seat bag (a compact laptop or a day sized handbag) you could do it in about 1h 40. If your "underseat bag" is a bulkier rucksack or smart weekend bag designed to be stuffed full, its much riskier you'll he held up arguing about it being checked.

90 mins plus fast track security now we’re in summer time

In my experience, you need an hour and a half at Bristol if you don't need to buy anything before the flight and the airport isn't too busy.
I've never flown from there in the evening after work, but have flown there plenty in the morning.
Last time I went we did have quite a queue at the car park key drop area, and then had to wait quite a while for a bus to arrive, we still made just our flight having arrived at the car park and hour and forty mins before the flight.
You could pay for fast track security to make it a bit quicker.

Bristol is a construction site at the moment and security can be either easy breezy or painfully slow. Don’t risk it…. I flew out a few weeks ago and an hour wouldn’t have been enough.

I aim to be there 3 hours before. I’ve been flying for 40 years and it’s ingrained.

my children also get there 3 hours beforehand. They have a wander around the shops, have a bite to eat and a drink and not stress out about being late.

The minimum I’d be happy with is 2 hours before a flight. Better to be sat relaxing in the airport near the departure gate than either (a) sat panicking in a vehicle because you’ve hit traffic; or (b) stood panicking in the queue for security, realising deep down that you’re going to miss your flight …
Airports are stressful enough without the added worry of not getting there in plenty of time.

Personally I wouldn't risk it. The gates close about 30mins before take off and you've still got to get through security before that. Sometimes it can be quick and you're straight through and sometimes we've queued for ages. Also, you could be taken to one side for a random check, which can add a further 10mins.

We flew from bristol a few weeks ago and it took a long long time to get through security and it was really really busy. We arrived two hours before and didn’t even have time to grab a coffee before going to our gate.

But I also fly Bristol to Edinburgh for work regularly, evening flight about 5pm/6pm and security has always been literally two minutes.

We fly from Bristol at least twice a year, one hr is not enough, security is good but if you get picked for a bag search and some gates are a 20 min walk it will be touch and go.