Baltimore (BWI) TSA wait times
Security at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is measured at about 8 minutes in the standard lane, and usually runs 10 to 20 minutes at noon on a Friday. PreCheck is moving in about 3 minutes.BWI security is about 8 minutes now, usually 10 to 20 at this hour. Busiest 6 to 8 AM and 5 to 7 PM.
Standard lane, right now
MeasuredChecked 16:44 UTC, live from the BWI checkpoint feed.
Security wait, last 7 hours
Usually 10 to 20 minutes now
Down 6 min since 6 am.
How long is security at Baltimore, and when is BWI busiest?
So how long is security at Baltimore? The left chart shows the Baltimore security wait time hour by hour, built from BWI's own departure schedule. The right ranks the days of the week by how long the wait gets. The calmest window is 10 AM to 2 PM; plan around the 6 to 8 AM and 5 to 7 PM rushes.Calmest 10 AM to 2 PM. Plan around the morning and evening rushes.
Planning a trip through BWI? Work out when to leave home for your flight, or read how these numbers are made. Flying a nearby airport instead? Compare Washington (DCA) and Washington (IAD), or every airport in Maryland.
Departures, the next few hours
| Hour | Departures | Typical security wait |
|---|---|---|
| noon (Now) | 14 flights | 15 min |
| 1 pm | 15 flights | 16 min |
| 2 pm | 15 flights | 17 min |
| 3 pm | 15 flights | 16 min |
| 4 pm | 16 flights | 18 min |
Standard, PreCheck, and CLEAR security lanes
Flying out of Baltimore: what to know
Five concourses, two separate secure zones
BWI is one terminal with five concourses, A, B, C, D and E. Concourses A, B and C share a single secure zone, while D and E share a separate one, and the two zones do not connect after security. So you can clear at any A/B/C checkpoint and reach those gates, but switching to D or E means exiting and re-screening. Southwest dominates concourses A and B.
PreCheck and CLEAR at all checkpoints
TSA PreCheck lanes are available at all BWI checkpoints, and CLEAR+ operates at the checkpoints as well. Because the A/B/C zone and the D/E zone are separate after security, use the PreCheck or CLEAR lane at the checkpoint that serves your own concourse. If you are flying Southwest out of concourse A or B, that side's checkpoints are the ones to target.
Southwest banks drive the crowd on A and B
Southwest carries roughly seventy percent of BWI's traffic, so concourses A and B run the busiest, especially at the early-morning and evening departure banks. If your gate is in A, B or C, any of those three checkpoints reaches it, so pick the shortest line and walk over. Just do not clear on the A/B/C side if you are flying from D or E, since the two zones do not connect.
Regional carriers fly these routes under the mainline brands, so a SkyWest flight shows on your ticket as Delta, United, American or Alaska.
BWI security, common questions
How early should I get to BWI?
For a domestic flight out of Baltimore, plan to be inside the terminal about an hour before departure, and about an hour and a half for an international one. That covers a 20 to 35 minute checkpoint queue at the Thursday peak plus the walk to the gate. Outside the peak you can safely trim it; the calculator above works it out from your actual departure time.
What is the busiest time at BWI security?
Thursday around 7 am, when 21 departures' worth of passengers are converging on the checkpoint at once. The calmest hour with real traffic is Thursday at 3 am, at roughly 6 minutes.
Is TSA PreCheck worth it at BWI?
At the Thursday peak it turns a 20 to 35 minute queue into something closer to 9 minutes. Over a five year membership that is worth it if you fly more than about three round trips a year through an airport this busy. The trusted traveler calculator prices it against your own flying.
When does security open at BWI?
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport does not publish checkpoint opening hours in any national feed, so we will not invent them. What the schedule does show is that the first departures leave around 3 am, and checkpoints generally open about two hours before the first flight of the day.
How long is security at Baltimore?
At the Thursday peak around 7 am, the standard lane at BWI typically runs 20 to 35 minutes. Away from the peak it settles to roughly 6 minutes. These are modeled from the airport's own departure schedule, so they move hour by hour, which is what the chart on this page shows.
How much time does PreCheck save at BWI?
At the busy Thursday peak, PreCheck turns the standard 20 to 35 minute wait into about 9 minutes, a saving of roughly 18 minutes when it matters most. Off-peak the two lanes are much closer, because a short line is short in either one.
Tips for BWI, from the data
- Fly between 10 AM to 2 PM if you can. That window sits between the two daily rushes, when the checkpoint is at its calmest.
- The 7 am hour is the single busiest today, at about 26 minutes in the standard lane.
- Southwest runs 80% of departures here, so its checkpoints and gates carry the most traffic. Which airline you fly is what decides your terminal.
Related
Live from BWI's checkpoint feed when fresh, otherwise modeled from the flight schedule. How these numbers are made.