Examples herein relate to allocation of an intermediate queue to a flow or traffic class (or other allocation) of packets prior to transmission to a network. Various types of intermediate queues are available for selection. An intermediate queue can be shallow and have an associated throughput that attempts to meet or exceed latency guarantees for a packet flow or traffic class. Another intermediate queue is larger in size and expandable and can be used for packets that are sensitive to egress port incast such as latency sensitive packets. Yet another intermediate queue is expandable but provides no guarantee on maximum end-to-end latency and can be used for packets where dropping is to be avoided. Intermediate queues can be deallocated after a flow or traffic class ends and related memory space can be used for another intermediate queue.