Leave early for GST Road and monsoon storms; take the metro when you can.

Tirusulam sits ~20-21 km southwest of central Chennai. Off-peak taxis often take 35-50 minutes; weekday GST / Kathipara peaks can run past 60-90 minutes, and Northeast-monsoon downpours (roughly Oct-Dec) slow both roads and runways. Give domestic flights 90-120 minutes once you are at the right building and international departures about 3 hours. The Blue Line metro is the traffic-proof option when bags allow.

Read the boarding-pass terminal; T3 is not open yet.

Terminals 1 and 4 are domestic and Terminal 2 is international. IndiGo domestic usually uses T1 (some ATR departures use T4); Air India and Air India Express domestic use T4. The new integrated Terminal 3 is under construction for an April 2027 target and is not in use. A link building with a travelator and golf carts joins the terminals, but every change means re-security.

Travel Club in your terminal is the PP play; T4 is adults-only.

Priority Pass lists four Travel Club lounges (two in T1, one in T4, one in T2), all 00:00-23:59 with 2-3 hour caps. Domestic Travel Clubs charge extra for standard alcohol; the T2 lounge includes standard alcohol with premium brands extra. T4 does not admit children. Landside snacks before security are the cheap backup.

Oct-Dec storms are the reliability tax; leave buffer.

MAA's secondary runway bridges the Adyar and Dec 2015 floods shut the airport for about a week. A major stormwater drain near the runways has been delayed and is being realigned (Sep 2026), so heavy Oct-Dec rain can still cause waterlogging, holding patterns and diversions. Prefer earlier connections when the forecast is ugly.