theory

As a former airport employee, I attempted the viral travel hack that allows passengers to successfully get on the plane by showing up 35 minutes before boarding starts

Everyone loves a holiday, but going two to three hours early to the airport can lead to you waiting for hours until the departure time – and that’s not fun.

According to Hoppa, airlines advise passengers to show up at the airport at least three hours before their departing time for international flights or two hours before any domestic flights, to ensure a smooth check-in process, such as dropping off your luggage, and avoiding any potential queues in security.

Working at the airport made me realise that there’s no need to show up hours earlier at the airport. As excited as one can get to begin their holidays, the airport isn’t a place to hang out. If I can give you a tip now, it’s to make sure your electronics and liquids are packed accordingly.

But there’s a trick for those who want to skip the long waiting hours, and it’s called the ‘airport theory’ – but there’s a catch.

READ MORE: Air passengers warned packing viral flight snack in hand luggage could risk £5,000 fineREAD MORE: ‘I was a check-in agent at Heathrow – this trick guarantees a seat change free of charge’

What is the ‘airport theory’?

Earlier this year, a so-called ‘airport theory’ went viral on social media, where passengers showed up to the airport 35 minutes (or even 15 minutes on some occasions) before their flight started boarding. Yes, it works, but there’s a catch that a lot of people miss.

During my holidays in Spain, I showed up at the airport less than an hour before the flight departed. No bags to check in and a digital boarding pass, I went through security in under five minutes. Lucky me, I was familiar with the layout of the airport, and I had minutes to spare to grab a coffee before heading to the departure gate.

The catch is that this only works for those travellers who don’t have to check in any luggage. If you have a big-sized bag to send off, you must show up at the check-in counters before they close, which is usually an hour before the flight departure time.

READ MORE: Get airport luggage off the plane first thanks to worker’s ‘little-know’ technique

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It’s also important to note that the waiting times at the airport can vary depending on the time of year. Therefore, it’s worth double-checking the status of your flight, as well as the distance between the security checkpoint and the gate.

Another secret from me is that if you ever show up late to the check-in counter and have a bag to drop, speak to an airline agent. In the majority of cases, the check-in agent will charge you a late drop-off fee to take your bag, which is better than leaving it behind!

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California Secretary of State Shirley Weber on Monday pushed back against a torrent of misinformation on social media sites claiming that mail-in ballots for the state’s Nov. 4 special election are purposefully designed to disclose how people voted.

Weber, the state’s top elections official, refuted claims by some Republicans and far-right partisans that holes on ballot envelopes allow election officials to see how Californians voted on Proposition 50, the ballot measure about redistricting that will be decided in a special election in a little over three weeks.

“The small holes on ballot envelopes are an accessibility feature to allow sight-impaired voters to orient themselves to where they are required to sign the envelope,” Weber said in a statement released Monday.

Weber said voters can insert ballots in return envelopes in a manner that doesn’t reveal how they voted, or could cast ballots at early voting stations that will open soon or in person on Nov. 4.

Weber’s decision to “set the record straight” was prompted by conspiracy theories exploding online alleging that mail ballots received by 23 million Californians in recent days are purposefully designed to reveal the votes of people who opposed the measure.

“If California voters vote ‘NO’ on Gavin Newscum’s redistricting plan, it will show their answer through a hole in the envelope,” Libs of TikTok posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, in a post that has 4.8 million views. “All Democrats do is cheat.”

GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz earlier retweeted a similar post that has been viewed more than 840,000 times, and Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator, called for the November special election to be suspended because of the alleged ballot irregularities.

The allegation about the ballots, which has been raised by Republicans during prior California elections, stems from the holes in mail ballot envelopes that were created to help visually impaired voters and allow election workers to make sure ballots have been removed from envelopes.

The special election was called for by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats in an effort to counter President Trump urging GOP-led states, notably Texas, to redraw their congressional districts before next year’s midterm election to boost GOP ranks in the House and buttress his ability to enact his agenda during his final two years in office.

California Democrats responded by proposing a rare mid-decade redrawing of California’s 52 congressional boundaries to increase Democratic representation in Congress. Congressional districts are typically drawn once a decade by an independent state commission created by voters in 2010.

Nearly 600,000 Californians have already returned mail ballots as of Monday evening, according to a ballot tracker created by Political Data, a voter data firm that is led by Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell, who drew the proposed congressional boundaries on the November ballot.

Republican leaders in California who oppose the ballot measure have expressed concern about the ballot conspiracy theories, fearing the claims may suppress Republicans and others from voting against Proposition 50.

“Please don’t panic people about something that is easily addressed by turning their ballot around,” Roxanne Hoge, the chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, posted on X. “We need every no vote and we need them now.”

Jessica Millan Patterson, the former chair of the state GOP who is leading one of the two main committees opposing Proposition 50, compared not voting early to sitting on the sidelines of a football game until the third quarter.

“I understand why voters would be concerned when they see holes in their envelopes … because your vote is your business. It’s the bedrock of our system, being able to [vote by] secret ballot,” she said in an interview. “That being said, the worst thing that you could do if you are unhappy with the way things are here in California is not vote, and so I will continue to promote early voting and voting by mail. It’s always been a core principle for me.”