By Dawn Gilbertson

Hal Hershfelt's savvy moves on the soccer field earned her a coveted call up to the U.S. Women's soccer team. Her mad Starbucks skills earn raves at the airport.

The 23-year-old Washington Spirit midfielder knows exactly when to hit "order" on the coffee chain's mobile app so that her iced shaken espresso, and some teammates' drinks, are waiting at the outlet closest to their gate. At Washington Dulles International, the professional team's home airport, Hershfelt says the magic moment is on the walk to the tram after security.

Unless the airport is jammed. Then she'll hit the order button from the security line to make sure there's time to pick up the drink before the team's flight takes off.

"It took a little bit of trial and error," she says of her strategy.

Snaking Starbucks airport lines are the bane of many frequent fliers. Dodging them is a superpower.

Mobile ordering has only been available at the hundreds of airport Starbucks locations across the country for a few years. But it has fast become a timesaving hack up there with TSA PreCheck and Clear.

Starbucks is in the early stages of testing a major change to mobile orders as part of a broad shake-up to revive sales. This would allow you to schedule a pickup time rather than have Starbucks estimate when your drink will be ready.

That will change the airport-ordering game if and when scheduled orders spread to airport locations. For now, the game remains unchanged for airport mobile order die-hards, including me.

Summer Heil, an attorney and insurance company vice president from Chicago, loves her quad venti iced nonfat latte at home and on the road.

At Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport, she orders as soon as she clears security. (She has TSA PreCheck and Clear.)

"The second I get myself back together," she says, "I pull up my Starbucks app."

She often grabs a drink upon landing, too. After a flight to Phoenix recently, she ordered her drink the second she was off the plane. It was waiting for her.

"I stroll over and pick up my drink and go about my business with my nice icy drink in hand," she says. "I think I've mastered it."

Timing and accuracy are critical to airport ordering. Press order too late during peak times and the choice becomes your flight or your pricey coffee. (One man reportedly left his wife and her Starbucks drink behind.) Hershfelt cut it too close the first time she ordered at LAX and flew espresso-free.

Order too early and the drink waiting for you is lukewarm, watered down or, worse, pawed over by fellow travelers.

Order too fast in a predawn fog, like I did earlier this year, and you risk selecting the wrong location. I sent my $10.34 latte order to Terminal 4 instead of Terminal 3 on a flight out of Phoenix and had to buy a new one. (Airport concession contracts are complicated so I couldn't just swap it out, an employee told me.)

When the stars align, though, mobile airport ordering is a beautiful thing if you live on the road and crave caffeine.

I set a personal best two weeks ago: 10 minutes from the airport parking garage to an extra-hot latte in hand just outside the security checkpoint. It was admittedly early. The location opened at 3:30 a.m., I ordered at 3:50 a.m. and it was on the counter when I showed up at 4 a.m. Boarding for my flight was at 4:25 a.m. I was thrilled.

Stuart Blitz, chief operating officer for a New York telemedicine company, not-so-fondly remembers when mobile ordering wasn't a thing at airports.

"I'd have to get to the airport 20 minutes early to stand in a line," he says. "It drove me totally nuts."

Today he orders a latte or coffee as soon as he deplanes. (He tries to sleep on morning flights so desperately needs the caffeine fix when he lands.) He checks the estimated pickup time and distance to the outlet to make sure it all lines up.

It worked like a charm in New Orleans when he visited for a conference a couple weeks ago, even though the Starbucks near his gate wasn't accepting mobile orders. (It happens.)

Mobile airport ordering isn't universally loved. Starbucks employees don't love the crush of orders, especially at the airport locations, which are licensed and not company owned.

"Being a barista at an airport Starbucks feels like running a marathon you didn't sign up for and the mobile orders are the hurdles that keep coming," one poster on Reddit said in March.

The company says it is addressing those concerns by better balancing in-person and mobile orders through a new sequencing algorithm, which will eventually be rolled out to airports.

Not everyone has the Starbucks app, of course. Then there are those people who don't think mobile orders are fair. Heil preaches the benefits of skipping the airport Starbucks line to anyone who will listen, but one friend is strenuously opposed.

"She thinks it's a sin that you're jumping the line."

Write to Dawn Gilbertson at dawn.gilbertson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 20, 2025 21:00 ET (01:00 GMT)

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