What Terminal Is Southwest at Las Vegas (LAS)? Terminal 1 Gates, Check-In, and Connections

Here’s the answer before you finish reading the question: Southwest flies out of Terminal 1 at Harry Reid International Airport, and almost always from Concourse C. No shuttle, no second building, no guessing.

I came up through revenue management at Virgin America, so I tend to look at airports through a unit-economics lens — why the flights and gates land where they do. And “check your boarding pass” is the laziest answer a travel site can give you. So let me give you the real one — with the gate numbers, the checkpoint that’s actually open, and the one catch that trips up connecting passengers.

Quick Answer: Southwest Flies From Terminal 1, Concourse C

Southwest operates from Terminal 1 at LAS. Two sources agree, and they’re the only two that matter: Harry Reid International Airport’s own airlines directory lists Southwest under Terminal 1, and Southwest’s own airport-information page pins its Las Vegas gates to “Concourse B&C.”

In practice, that means Concourse C. Southwest’s page lists its C gates as C: 1-5, 7-9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, and 21, with a handful of B gates (B: 9-12, 14, 15) used when the schedule is heavy. Southwest has been the dominant carrier at LAS since the 1990s, so on a busy afternoon its planes spread across most of the C gates and spill into B.

What you won’t do is end up in Terminal 3. That’s the other half of this question, and it’s where people get burned.

Terminal 1 vs Terminal 3 at LAS — Why the Split Actually Matters

LAS has two terminal buildings, and they are not the same airport wearing one name.

Terminal 1 (Concourses A, B, and C) handles domestic flying — Southwest lives here. Terminal 3 (Concourse E, plus the D-gates satellite) handles international arrivals and the full-service carriers: Delta, United, American, Alaska, and JetBlue all check in over there, along with every international airline. Per the airport, there are 110 gates total across the two buildings. Terminal 1 dates to the 1960s and feels it; Terminal 3 is the newer building, a $2.4 billion expansion that opened in June 2012, split into Concourse D (domestic) and Concourse E (international departures).

The detail most guides bury: Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 are not connected landside. You cannot walk from one to the other outside security. The only landside link is an airport shuttle bus that runs every 20 to 30 minutes from Level 0 — and because it drops you outside the secure area, riding it means clearing TSA all over again. If you want the full picture of how LAS’s two terminals split by airline and lounge access, that split is the whole story.

One aside for the locals: the airport dropped the McCarran name in December 2021, though you’ll still hear it called McCarran, and it moved more than 58.4 million passengers in 2024. “Busy” is not an exaggeration.

So the practical rule is simple: if your ticket says Southwest, you want Terminal 1, and you never need Terminal 3 to catch your flight.

Southwest Check-In and Ticket Counter — Where and When

The Southwest ticket counter sits in Terminal 1, and there’s a landmark I like because you can’t argue with it: the LVMPD Airport Bureau police substation is on the mezzanine level at the south end, directly above the Southwest counter. If you can see the police office upstairs, you’re standing in the right place.

Southwest’s own timing, from its airport-info page:

• The ticket counter opens 120 minutes before the first departing flight of the day.
• All checked bags must be at the counter 45 minutes before scheduled departure. Miss that window and your bag may not make the flight, even if you do.

Southwest suggests arriving 90 minutes before a domestic departure — and, notably, the same 90 minutes for international. Hold that international number; it comes back later with a catch.

Security at Concourse C — Checkpoint Hours and Realistic Arrival Time

LAS runs five TSA checkpoints — three in Terminal 1, two in Terminal 3 — and they don’t all keep the same hours. For Southwest flyers, the one you care about is the C Gates checkpoint, and per the airport it’s open 3:05 a.m. to 10 p.m.

That’s the trap. If you have a very late departure from a C gate, that checkpoint may already be closed for the night. The airport’s other Terminal 1 checkpoints keep wider hours — per the airport, the A/B Gates checkpoint runs 3:15 a.m. to 1 a.m., and the C/D Gates checkpoint is open 24 hours. If you’re flying out late, it’s worth asking a Southwest agent or a TSA officer on-site which open checkpoint to use rather than assuming the C checkpoint will be staffed when you arrive.

On arrival time: Southwest says 90 minutes domestic. TSA’s general guidance is more conservative — two hours for domestic, three for international. My honest take is that on a normal LAS afternoon, 90 minutes is fine for a domestic Southwest flight if you have PreCheck. If you’re checking bags, traveling with kids, or hitting a Friday or Sunday Strip-checkout rush, give yourself the full two hours. If you want a framework instead of a single number, we’ve written about how much buffer to build before any flight.

Finding Your Gate — Concourse C Layout

Concourse C is a straight-line concourse — 18 gates on a single spine, which makes it one of the easier concourses to read on foot. It also happens to be the best-stocked concourse in Terminal 1 for food and shopping; third-party terminal guides note that Gate C carries more than A or B, including Pandora, Tags, Brookstone, and Ethel M. Chocolates.

One honest caveat, and it applies to every Southwest airport, not just LAS: gate assignments move. A third-party LAS guide confirms Southwest usually departs Concourse C but sometimes uses the B gates, and that assignments can change close to departure. Don’t trust the gate printed on a boarding pass you got last night. Check the departure boards or the Southwest app once you’re airside — that’s the number that’s actually true.

Connecting to Terminal 3 (Delta, United, American, Alaska, JetBlue, International)

This is where Las Vegas earns its reputation, so here’s the part no diagram makes obvious.

Inside security, LAS runs a tram system on three lines. The Green Line links Terminal 1 to the C-gate concourse where Southwest sits. The Blue Line links Terminal 1 to the D-gates concourse. The Red Line carries you from the D gates onward to Terminal 3. Chained together, that’s the fast, airside way to move between buildings without re-clearing security — as long as you’re on a single itinerary that keeps you inside the secure area.

If you’re not — say you booked Southwest and Delta on separate tickets — you’re back on that landside shuttle bus, and you’re re-clearing TSA in Terminal 3. Treat that as its own trip. From a connection-risk standpoint, a separate-ticket Southwest-to-Terminal-3 self-connect at LAS is not a 45-minute maneuver; give it a couple of hours. It’s the same island logic I laid out in our guide to Southwest’s terminal at LAX — the low-cost terminal behaves like a satellite, and you plan around it.

One more thing worth saying plainly: Terminal 1 has no major airline lounges. The only lounge access near Concourse C is through third-party Priority Pass. If you’re counting on a branded airline club, you won’t find one on the Southwest side — plan around that before you build your layover.

Arriving on Southwest — Baggage Claim and Ground Transportation

Southwest arrivals come into Terminal 1 too, so this stays simple. Your bags come out on the Terminal 1 carousels, and your rideshare, taxi, or shuttle pickup is on the Terminal 1 curb — you do not cross to Terminal 3 to leave the airport.

I won’t re-derive Las Vegas ground-transport pricing here, because the numbers deserve their own page. The Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) overview covers the ride options and honest costs from the curb into the city.

Flying Southwest Internationally From LAS? The Passport Check Catch

Here’s the catch I told you to hold onto. If you’re flying an international itinerary on Southwest, you still start in Terminal 1 — but there’s an extra step. Southwest’s airport-info page instructs international passengers to verify their passport with an agent or a kiosk at the Southwest ticket counter at least 60 minutes before departure.

That surprises people, because Las Vegas’s international arrivals and customs facilities are physically over in Terminal 3. Doesn’t matter — your Southwest passport check happens on the Terminal 1 side, at the counter, and 60 minutes is a firmer deadline than the 90-minute arrival suggestion. Build your morning around the passport check, not the general arrival window.

FAQ

Is Southwest Terminal 1 or 3 in Las Vegas? Terminal 1. Southwest operates from Terminal 1, Concourse C, at Harry Reid International Airport. Terminal 3 is for the full-service and international carriers.

What airlines use Terminal 3 at Las Vegas Airport? Terminal 3 handles Delta, United, American, Alaska, and JetBlue, plus all international airlines. Its Concourse E manages international departures, and international arrivals process there as well.

How early should I get to LAS for a Southwest flight? Southwest suggests 90 minutes for a domestic flight; TSA recommends two hours. On a busy weekend or with checked bags, take the two hours. Checked bags must be at the counter 45 minutes before departure.

Which terminal is Southwest arrivals in Las Vegas? Also Terminal 1. Southwest flights land at Terminal 1, Concourse C, so baggage claim and ground transportation are all on the Terminal 1 side.