✈ Songshan Airport | When to be at airport for flight to Kinmen

Flight leaves at 9:30am. If I leave at 7:30am from Ximending by taxi, it should be enough time to catch my flight, right?

You should easily get there by 8.

Yes, plenty of time.

Might be a good idea to take the MRT… in case traffic is really bad!

I don’t really know how long it takes to get from Ximen to TSA, but you only need to arrive 30 min before departure for domestic flights. And that’s only to ensure you get your boarding pass. 30 min before take off is when they start giving up booked seats that haven’t been claimed to standby passengers. Do not arrive later than 30 min before take off though— they might only give you a stern warning and still give you your ticket, but more likely they’ll have already given your seat to a standby passenger.

I would get to the airport 45-50 minutes before departure for domestic flights. For international flights, at least 1 hour.

Anyone flown internationally out of Songshan lately?

Is the regular two hours enough to make it?

Guy

I flew out of TSA internationally a couple weeks ago, and two hours was more than enough.

There was no line at security for me, and there were still quite a few stores that are closed in the terminal (everything is still relatively quiet…)

I mean, TSA is so small. Nothing to do airside. 30 mins for domestinc and 1 hr for international is plenty of time tbh.

Have you done this lately?

My flight is to HND with an onward connection to the US.

With entry requirements to Japan, I do wonder if there will be delays at the check-in counter as people need to demonstrate their eligibility to enter Japan (I won’t but I suspect I’ll be one of the few connecting passengers on that flight).

Guy

I would probably arrive 2.5~3hours in advance, but I am always way early to everything.

Should be fast. For most people the COVID check is just looking at the doc or your phone and takes few seconds, ha when I went one guy call if wife in Japan send to his phone he got shots and check in agent was very chill about it that was longest wait I saw(and me on a connection to Finland, they wanted to see my three shots records even though I told them I am not going home, just transfering)

Coming back was very different. I flew from Hawaii to Japan (entered Japan), and no checks in Hawaii (even asked if they needed it, said naaa just show it in JPN)

When I flew TSA-HND a couple weeks ago, most people on the flight were Taiwanese tourists, but the check-in line didn’t take too long. It’s much more relaxed now.

Haven’t flown internationally from TSA recently, but, as I’m reading from other posters, it won’t take long. Not many international flights yet there, so the terminal is quite empty for sure.

How early should we arrive for a domestic flight if we have a checked bag? Also, what form of ID is required for a foreign national? Is Taiwan ARC acceptable or should we bring our foreign passports?

Which airline are you referring to? Both Uni and Mandarin fly to Kinmen from TSA.

It very depends on what time and day you need, if during public holidays, expect long queues at the check-in counter, so 2 hours will suffice, otherwise 1.5, even 1 hr if u want to just go straight to the gate, can be enough.

This is something very, very stupid, but airlines accept only passport for us dirty foreigners, not even APRC are accepted, while citizen can even board with their NHI card with their picture when toddlers… But then, at security, they ask for your A(P)RC, so moronic tbh.

Question is for this Friday. Not a holiday but a weekend.

Ahh haha. Ok so we’ll bring 4 passports and 4 ARCs for our family, lol. Which ID number should I use for purchasing the ticket? I can only choose one, which they say they will check so on the page it warns to make sure the number is entered correctly.

Only passport numbers are accepted for foreigners

We never showed passports, only APRCs, for flights to/from Kinmen, Penghu, and Matsu. Have regulations changed recently?

Me too, only APRC required, and I’ve made many many trips to the offshore islands.

That said, I’ve never once been able to use the check-in kiosks successfully, even when trying to use my 健保卡 which citizens can use. I always need to check in at the counter.