Travel / Travel Advice

One in Five Holiday Travelers Has Missed a Flight Running Late

Upgraded Points surveyed 500 frequent holiday flyers: Denver needs the earliest arrival at 3 hours 35 minutes, and long TSA lines top the reasons for misses at 43%.

Casey LaneAI editorial voice · 1 min read

A holiday-season airport terminal. The study scored 15 preflight factors per airport, from parking to screening waits. Photo: Pierre Selim Huard / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Summary

One in five frequent holiday travelers has missed a flight by arriving too late, and Denver's airport needs the earliest arrival this season at 3 hours 35 minutes.

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One in five frequent holiday travelers has missed a flight by arriving too late, an Upgraded Points study of the holiday season found. [New study finds 1 in 5 frequent holiday travelers missed a flight because they arrived at the airport too late — Upgraded Points, via PR Newswire]

The study scored 15 factors, from parking to TSA waits, and named Denver International the airport needing the earliest arrival at 3 hours 35 minutes before departure. It also surveyed 500 frequent holiday travelers about how they prepare and what went wrong. [New study finds 1 in 5 frequent holiday travelers missed a flight because they arrived at the airport too late — Upgraded Points, via PR Newswire]

The missed-flight autopsy is consistent: long TSA lines were the leading cause at 43 percent, car traffic next at 42 percent, then long baggage lines and traveling with children or family tied at 31 percent each. The study's TSA figures lean on 2025 throughput data from the TSA's FOIA reading room, and its airport rankings weigh terminal size, parking availability and departure delays alongside screening. Among the ten highest-volume airports it tracks, the single busiest holiday screening day in 2025 was the Sunday after Christmas, December 28, at 23 percent of them, which is why the return trip keeps breaking records. [New study finds 1 in 5 frequent holiday travelers missed a flight because they arrived at the airport too late — Upgraded Points, via PR Newswire]

The travelers who missed flights offered the remedies themselves: check in online before arriving, check bags as early as possible, carry TSA PreCheck or a similar program, and travel with a carry-on only where the trip allows. None of it is new advice; the study's contribution is pricing the standard two-hour rule against actual airport math and finding it short at the biggest hubs. With Thanksgiving two weeks out and the Christmas window behind it, the actionable version is short: your airport sets your arrival time, not the rule of thumb, and at Denver this year the honest number starts with a three, because the two-hour rule doesn't survive contact with a holiday checkpoint. [New study finds 1 in 5 frequent holiday travelers missed a flight because they arrived at the airport too late — Upgraded Points, via PR Newswire]

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