Is having to arrive 3 hours before departure efficient

Just heard that to catch an international flight from Australia one must arrive at least 3 hours before flight departure.
Domestic flight? 2 hours before departure.
All one has to do is use the self serve electronic check in terminals to confirm plus check in baggage.
That should be a smooth process, yes?
Airlines are treating passengers as mugs

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

HootyTheNightOwl

That sounds nice for you... just imagine having to be the guy who has to decide how much fuel you need to get there safely and needing your final weight to do that.

Then you need to do it before passengers can board.

Then you'll need to read all about the aircraft you'll be flying today and get the weather reports because that's a factor in how much fuel you'll need.

Some of that information will need to be told to the aircraft too...

You'll need to ensure that the right amount of food that you will consume during the flight is delivered so nobody goes hungry and you're not ferrying food all over the world for fun.

You live in a post 9/11 world, so you can't fly with luggage that is unaccounted for - if there's any discrepancy bags have to be off loaded until that's sorted out.

Oh... and now you don't know how much weight you will have on your plane because someone doesn't want to wait 2 or 3 hours in the terminal.

Apparently, most people value getting there safely more than they like the idea of being the next Air India.