Getting to the airport: there's no need to fly by the seat of your pants

Each side will passionately defend their approach. "Why would you risk missing the plane that's taking you across the world?" one will ask. "Why would you want to sit for hours at an airport where a coffee costs almost the same as the ticket?" the other will reply. But is there a right answer? Well, at the risk of starting an argument, let's try to have a look at the best approach for various situations.

Firstly, domestic flights. Most airlines close their check-in 30 minutes before the departure time (Jetstar is 40 minutes) so, if you have bags to drop off, that's the absolute latest you need to be there. And then boarding closes 10 minutes before the departure time for most domestic airlines, although again Jetstar is a bit earlier, at 20 minutes.

At pretty much every Australian domestic airport, there's usually enough time to get through security and to the gate between the close of check-in and the close of boarding. If you like living on the edge, it can be possible to arrive at the airport about 35 minutes early if you're dropping off bags, or even just 20 minutes early if you've only got carry-on.

But - and this is important - I don't recommend cutting it this fine unless you're a regular at that time of day. With peak hours and school holidays, what might have worked for you on a lazy summer afternoon could cause a massive headache early on a Monday morning with the throngs of business travellers.

In most cases, my recommendation would be to arrive at the airport an hour before your flight with baggage or 45 minutes before without, while making sure to leave yourself a bit more time if it's a holiday period or special event. Getting there much earlier is likely to lead to thumb-twiddling and massively overpriced paninis. With domestic airports, you'll also probably understand the city's transport system, which means less chance of a disaster getting there, and once you've arrived, there are far fewer things that can go wrong than with an international flight.

If I was to name just one good reason to get to an airport early, it would be to have the flexibility to deal with any unforeseen circumstances. And there are plenty more of them when you're flying internationally. I once realised halfway to Heathrow that I'd forgotten my passport and had to jump off the Piccadilly Line in a panic. I was also once refused check-in because I didn't have a return flight out of my destination. In both cases, I'd left enough time to scramble around for a solution.

For international flights from Australian airports, most airlines have a cut-off for check-in of either 60 or 90 minutes before departure. Generally, you don't need to factor in the queue for those timings - as long as you're in line before the cut-off, it should be fine.

One of the reasons the airlines have determined to close check-in that early is because it should still give you time to go through security and immigration. In fact, during off-peak times of the day, that generally takes less than 15 minutes - even at Sydney or Melbourne Airport.

I once had an evening flight from Australia to Europe on the same day as a friend's birthday party. To miss neither the celebrations nor the flight, I managed to time things perfectly to arrive at the airport minutes before check-in closed, go through security and immigration, and walk straight to the gate to board the flight, which had no queue by this point.

While it's not something I would normally recommend (one small delay would've caused a major problem), it did demonstrate an interesting point - by arriving after everybody else had checked in, I didn't have to spend any time waiting in a queue. If you were to be a bit more cautious and arrive two hours before departure (my usual recommendation), you might end up spending much of that just standing in a line and then still have to hurry to the gate. People who get there three hours or more ahead of the flight, before most other passengers, may have lots of hanging around, but at least it's airside and not in a queue.

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An important point to make about international flights is that I would suggest always factoring in extra time for airports overseas. I've lost count of the number of instances where I've got there later than expected because I've done something silly like waited at the wrong stop for the airport bus. You also often don't know how long things will take once you're there - the US is notorious for stupidly long security lines, for instance. And many airports have traps for first-time visitors like lengthy shuttles to satellite terminals... or even just general disorganisation (looking at you, Rome!).

So, with all of that said, the answer to when you should get to the airport is... it depends. If you have lounge access, there's no harm getting there early. If you have no baggage for a domestic flight, you can probably cut it fine. If you're in an unfamiliar city, play it safe. And if you want to avoid standing in a check-in queue for an hour, go either early or late (or fly business class).

But I know you're not going to take my advice. You've already made up your mind. After all, there are two types of people and you already know which one you are, don't you?