Reno Airport (RNO) Flights & Information

Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) is the gateway not only to Reno, but to the entire Lake Tahoe region, straddling the Nevada/California border. It is the only major international airport serving Northern Nevada, but it’s still comparatively small and compact, making transit times through the terminal short and convenient.

Getting to and from RNO

RNO is near US-395 HWY/Interstate 580 and self-drive or rideshare are the most convenient ways to get to and from the airport. The city bus also connects the airport to the transit center in downtown Reno, but it’s not particularly convenient if you have a lot of luggage or if your luggage is large or bulky. If you’re going anywhere outside the city center of Reno – particularly to Lake Tahoe – a rental car is essential for getting around.

Rideshare services aren’t curbside at RNO – they have a designated pickup area a short walk across the parking lot from baggage claim. When I arrive, if I don’t have baggage, I tend to request the pickup as I’m leaving the secure area, which is about a 5-15 minute walk away from the rideshare area. If you’re not used to the elevation (4,400 feet) allow more walking time than you normally might in the thinner air.

Although the rideshare pickup is located away from the terminal, rideshare drivers drop passengers at the curb just like everyone else. Like many airports, baggage claim can be less crowded in the mornings, and ticketing less crowded in the evenings, so these can be convenient alternate pick-up and drop-off points regardless of whether you’re arriving or departing.

Getting to and from Lake Tahoe can be unpredictable during certain times of the year, and snow, wind, and other hazards can reduce throughput on the mountain passes or even close them entirely. When mapping travel times over the passes from Lake Tahoe to RNO, I always give a little buffer to accommodate unexpected delays, which can be common in all types of weather. Visitors may also want to add some extra time to allow themselves time to stop for photos – some of the overlooks above Lake Tahoe offer spectacular scenery.

Navigating security lines at RNO

RNO has a single security checkpoint for all gates. As a leisure destination, peak days and times are predictable: Thursdays and Sundays in the early morning and in the middle of the day are the busiest times for the screening checkpoint – at other times it’s pretty calm. There’s a separate Pre-Check lane which typically opens at the same time as the checkpoint, but tends to close before the last evening departures. If you’re a CLEAR Plus member, RNO is not a participating airport.

It has been my experience that security lines at RNO also tend to move quickly, and the checkpoint appears to be consistently well-staffed. Although lines are typically shorter, Pre-Check is still worth its weight in gold here, simply because of the streamlined screening procedures – even if the dedicated Pre-Check line may not shave much time off the wait if the lengths of that line are similar with General Screening, particularly during off-peak times of day or on slower travel weekdays.

Airline lounges at RNO

There’s one lounge at RNO, the Escape Lounge. It has pretty standard amenities including hot and cold food and a full bar. If you have an American Express Platinum Card or a Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card, you can get in free, otherwise the lounge sells admission to all passengers for a fee. The lounge can get pretty crowded, especially on peak days, and they offer pre-booking on their website.

If food and drink are your main objective in the lounge, consider the amount of time you’ll be spending there. RNO’s regular restaurants and bars are on the more reasonable side, price-wise, and a meal at one of those can easily be gotten for much less than the price of admission to the lounge. One of the primary benefits of RNO’s small, compact terminal is that it doesn’t lend itself to long waits unless you find yourself connecting between flights with a long layover at RNO, but this is thankfully rare.

Things to do during a layover at RNO

Nevada gaming laws make RNO a distinctive airport, with slot machines in most of the common waiting areas of the terminal. If gambling is your thing, you can test lady luck right up until it’s time to board your flight. I’m not sure if there’s any reason for it, but it’s always been my feeling that the slot machines in airports are a little “tighter” than in regular casinos.

Interestingly, RNO hits above its weight in vending machines. There are machines dispensing coffee, cakes, sandwiches, licorice, pretzels, and more traditional vending machine snacks around the airside locations of the terminal. Fast food standbys Subway and McDonald’s are also available in the terminal (and McDonald’s even allows online ordering via the app).

Aside from these, there are several local options for food. Timber Ridge is a sit-down place offering sandwiches, pizza, and salads, while Wild Garlic Pizza is an outpost of a local Reno pizza chain. Verdi Market is a grab-and-go with items from local distilleries and bakeshops. It’s before security, but a good Mexican place is MariChuy’s – another airport version of a local eatery.

When it comes to shopping, there are curiously more vending machines, selling everything from Lego to Kylie Jenner Cosmetics. There’s also a pharmacy vending machine and another selling electronics. Traditional storefronts can be found too, such as No Boundaries, which, rather strangely for an airport, trades in outdoor gear and apparel – probably an easier sell for those arriving in Reno and bound for outdoor activities.

Alternative airports to RNO

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is an alternative to RNO, albeit a far one, often two to three hours away from the Reno area, and just under two hours away from the northwest shores of Lake Tahoe. SMF has more flight options than RNO, particularly to the eastern US and to Hawaii. In markets where airlines fly from both SMF and RNO, there are generally more airlines offering more flights from SMF than from RNO.

It’s also worth noting that RNO is a destination where demand can peak during the winter season. There are nonstops from more cities to RNO during the ski season, and once the season is over those nonstops disappear. So if you’re searching for a nonstop from RNO in the summer or fall and you can’t find one, it might be worth checking to see if there’s a nonstop from SMF instead, where demand patterns are slightly steadier on a year-round basis.

In the winter, the mountain passes on I-80 can be more unpredictable in the direction of Sacramento than in the direction of Reno. That said, SMF airport itself is virtually never affected by winter weather, while RNO occasionally is. However, because it tends to get winter weather, airlines at RNO are generally equipped for winter weather operations, which helps minimize delays in colder temps.

Parking at RNO

Parking is easy at RNO – you can even check to see how many spots are currently open in the parking garages before you leave for the airport. Short-Term Parking is on the first level of the garage, and has the highest daily rate. The second level and higher are Long-Term Parking, generally at less than half the daily rate of Short-Term Parking. There’s also a Long-Term Surface Lot for slightly less than the Long-Term Garage.

RNO also limits parking in the Short-Term level of the garage to two hours when they’re running low on parking spaces. The garage offers low hourly rates to encourage people meeting arriving passengers to park in the garage and meet their party inside the terminal rather than continuing to contribute to congestion on the roadway by circling. There’s a good amount of shopping and dining in the terminal before the security checkpoint, so it’s a pleasant place to sit and wait for passengers to arrive, rather than waiting in a car outside.