$83B Wasted: Showing up at the airport 3 hours before your flight

Economic value of time & GDP framing

• Several commenters reject the article’s $83B “lost GDP” claim as naive: you can’t just multiply passenger-hours by hourly wages.
• For salaried workers, output is tied to deliverables over weeks/months, not each hour; one slow or lost day may have negligible impact.
• Others argue time still has value as lost leisure or added fatigue, even if GDP doesn’t change—people demonstrably trade time for money in daily life.
• Transport economists’ “value of time” models are mentioned (working time ~wage, leisure ~½ wage), but some say this still misstates real-life tradeoffs.

How early people actually arrive

• Many report routinely arriving 45–90 minutes before domestic flights, more for international, depending heavily on airport, time of day, and experience.
• In the US, unpredictable traffic and highly variable TSA lines push many to 2–3 hours, especially around holidays.
• European travelers often cut it closer, though long-distance train unreliability (e.g., Germany) can force even earlier starts.

Security, discrimination, and 9/11 legacy

• Brown and turbaned/bearded travelers describe frequent extra screening and build in more time.
• Debate erupts over whether this is “harassment” or just necessary security; one side calls TSA largely ineffective security theater, the other emphasizes respect for 9/11 victims.
• Kirpans and religious objects highlight inconsistent, officer-discretion rules.

Airport incentives and design

• Airports function as shopping malls: airlines and airports benefit if passengers arrive early and spend.
• Understaffed security/check-in at peaks shifts delay risk onto passengers, who must self-insure with buffer time.
• Some argue airports are natural monopolies that need regulated service guarantees; others note multiple-airport metros and government-run security complicate the incentive story.

Risk tolerance & traveler psychology

• Frequent travelers with PreCheck/CLEAR often optimize and arrive late; anxious or infrequent travelers prefer long buffers to avoid catastrophic missed flights and downstream disruption.
• Many use early time productively (work, reading, lounges), so they don’t view it as pure waste.

Trains vs planes and security cost

• Several argue that, in an ideal world, high-speed rail would dominate sub-oceanic routes, but acknowledge US (and even some EU) rail realities make this largely fantasy.
• Some contend post‑9/11 security spending (e.g., TSA’s 65k staff) is vastly disproportionate to its marginal safety benefit, with locking cockpit doors being the only truly decisive change.