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“My View with Lara Trump” host Lara Trump has sparked a travel debate regarding airport arrival time for passengers before their departing flights.
She spoke to Fox News Digital about how her “no-wait-at-the-gate” approach maximizes her time without requiring her to hang around needlessly at the airport beforehand.
“My goal is to make it to the gate right as they’re calling my zone to board the airplane, because I don’t want to waste a single minute,” she said. “If I sit down at all at any point when I’m in an airport — the mission has failed.”
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She added, “Whenever you’re trying to spend a little more time with your kids at home, or fit a lot into a day, what I’ve found is that, instead of being one of those people that kind of hovers around the gate and waits around for 30 minutes before they start boarding, my goal is to cut that back as much as humanly possible.”
Summing it up neatly, she said her goal is to “get through security, walk up to the gates, board the airplane — and then they close the doors.”
The TSA advises travelers to arrive at the airport two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international flight.
Passengers spend an average of 29 minutes of lost time, with 12 of those minutes due to departure delays and 17 minutes on the runway before takeoff, according to a 2024 study done by Upgraded Points.
President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law shared that she began her no-wait-at-the-gate hack during campaign season, when the family and members of the staff were trying to fit a lot into each day as they traveled from one place to another quickly.
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“There is a technique that goes into all of this,” added Lara Trump. “I have all the apps for the airlines on my phone, so if there is a delay of any variety, it usually alerts you — which is very helpful.”
She also shared a helpful tip about searching for flight numbers on Google.
“There are a couple of different websites that pop up, and they give you a lot of information, such as where your plane is coming from, how often it’s delayed, is there another flight that you might be able to take.”
She said it can be helpful for travelers to check flight numbers if they’re not already at the airport, allowing for a little more time at home if possible.
She joked that if she does face a delay while already at the airport, she is always moving and looking to get her steps in.
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Trump joked that now that she has Secret Service agents with her, they “have to keep up with [her] everywhere [she goes], but they [all get] a lot of steps in.”
In a clip she posted on social media discussing her travel strategy, followers took to the comment section to share their thoughts.
“I like to get to the gate as my boarding group is called, walk on and buckle up,” a person said, agreeing with Trump.
Another person wrote on Instagram, “I’m sick of getting there 1.5 hours before. I’ll try this next time, maybe.”
“I would die waiting until the last minute to get to the gate,” said yet another user.
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The person added, “I am arriving two hours before.”
A different user said, “We are the airport four hours early.”
Trump said she understands that her travel style is not for everyone and that some people don’t like it.
“I’ve traveled with some people who get a little stressed out over that,” she said.
She admitted that sometimes even she and her husband, Eric Trump, “disagree on this whole tactic and technique in terms of what time we should leave our house or wherever we are in order to make it to the airport.”
“I’ve traveled with some people who get a little stressed out over that.”
She said that when she travels solo, she tries to execute the no-wait-at-the-gate mission, so that she is “not spending an extra minute or two or 10 or more hours in an airport.”
In July, TSA ended the shoe-off requirement at security checkpoints at every airport nationwide.
Trump said that she has CLEAR, so she’s never had to take off her shoes — but she thinks the change is great for efficient travel.
“Going through security is tough,” she said. “There’s no doubt about it, especially when there’s a long line.”
She said she dislikes the automated bin systems used in airports such as LaGuardia and Atlanta, saying that process slows things down compared to when bins are handled by humans.
“I feel like having this robot doing it for you actually adds more time,” she said. “It takes a lot longer for this thing to give me a bin than it would be if I just picked a bin up and put all my stuff in it myself.”
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She joked, “I would be in favor of eradicating those. Let’s go back to human beings actually doing it.”
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