CHAT PLUS

During our online chat (most Mondays at 2 p.m.), you ask and we answer your travel questions -- mostly. Here's one we didn't get to last week.

I've got a seat on a 6:30 a.m. flight on Saturday from Reagan National. The airline said I should arrive 90 minutes early. Are the security lines even open at 5 a.m.? More important, are the coffee shops?

Flights nearly always loaded to capacity, obscenely early check-in times -- welcome to the delightfully inconvenient world of air travel circa 2007. Here's a bit of consolation, though: You won't be the only one who's not sleeping in this Saturday. According to the airline, ATA agents will be at their posts in Terminal A by 4:30 a.m., which also happens to be the time when -- glory to you, oh coffee gods! -- the Starbucks kiosk opens in the lobby. And yes, according to Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Amy Kudwa, security screeners will indeed be at their posts by 5. -- S.V.