SAN Terminal 1 security wait times: what to expect
From October 12 to November 9 we logged 122,200 security checkpoint readings at SAN Terminal 1. The standard lane averaged 3 minutes, and TSA PreCheck averaged 1 minute. 96% of standard-lane readings were 10 minutes or less, and none were over half an hour.
That is in line with SAN as a whole.
When the line is longest
The standard line at Terminal 1 is longest around 7 AM, when it has averaged 6 minutes, and shortest around 11 PM, at under a minute. By day of the week, Thursday has been the heaviest (3 minutes on average) and Saturday the lightest (2 minutes).
| Time of day | Standard | PreCheck |
|---|---|---|
| Early morning (4–8 AM) | 4 min | 1 min |
| Morning (8 AM–noon) | 4 min | 2 min |
| Midday (noon–4 PM) | 4 min | 2 min |
| Evening (4–8 PM) | 2 min | 1 min |
| Night (8 PM–4 AM) | 1 min | <1 min |
Average wait across the last 28 days. A dash means the lane is usually closed then.
PreCheck at Terminal 1
Over the same period PreCheck saved 2 minutes on average compared with the standard lane, and 4 minutes at the 7 AM peak. Standard-lane waits are usually short here, so the gain is largest at peak times.
How early to arrive
To plan your arrival, use the worst hour rather than the average: at Terminal 1 that is 6 minutes in the standard lane around 7 AM. Allow that on top of your airline's check-in and bag-drop deadlines, and more on Thursdays and holiday weekends. The live board above shows what the line is doing right now, and the chart projects the next 12 hours.
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.