PHX Terminal 4 — Checkpoint C security wait times: what to expect
From October 12 to November 9 we logged 70,263 security checkpoint readings at PHX Terminal 4 — Checkpoint C. The standard lane averaged 7 minutes. 95% of standard-lane readings were 10 minutes or less, and none were over half an hour.
That is in line with PHX as a whole.
When the line is longest
The standard line at Terminal 4 — Checkpoint C is longest around 6 AM, when it has averaged 10 minutes, and shortest around midnight, at under a minute. By day of the week, Friday has been the heaviest (7 minutes on average) and Tuesday the lightest (6 minutes).
| Time of day | Standard |
|---|---|
| Early morning (4–8 AM) | 9 min |
| Morning (8 AM–noon) | 9 min |
| Midday (noon–4 PM) | 8 min |
| Evening (4–8 PM) | 8 min |
| Night (8 PM–4 AM) | 3 min |
Average wait across the last 28 days. A dash means the lane is usually closed then.
PreCheck at Terminal 4 — Checkpoint C
The feed for Terminal 4 — Checkpoint C does not report a separate TSA PreCheck line, so the figures above cover the standard lane only.
How early to arrive
To plan your arrival, use the worst hour rather than the average: at Terminal 4 — Checkpoint C that is 10 minutes in the standard lane around 6 AM. Allow that on top of your airline's check-in and bag-drop deadlines, and more on Fridays and holiday weekends. The live board above shows what the line is doing right now, and the chart projects the next 12 hours.
Other terminals at PHX
| Terminal | Standard avg | PreCheck avg | Busiest hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal 3 | 7 min | — | 5 AM |
| Terminal 4 — Checkpoint A | 9 min | — | 7 AM |
| Terminal 4 — Checkpoint B | 6 min | — | 7 AM |
| Terminal 4 — Checkpoint D | 5 min | — | 6 AM |
Where these numbers come from
Each airport publishes its own checkpoint wait estimates. This site reads them every minute and keeps every reading. Closed lanes are left out of the averages, and times are local to the airport. The averages above cover the last 28 days and are recalculated every hour. The posted wait is the airport's estimate, not a timed measurement, so treat it as a guide.
The full archive is free to download as an open dataset, and the about page explains who runs the site and why.