Post 9/11 Airport Experience

[WAeyes]

I will be flying over the holidays for the first time since 9/11. What has been your experience and what should I expect to see and do? I have heard rumor that you need to arrive as much as 3 hours ahead of departure. Is that an exageration or reality? I hope my early flight doesn't turn into a "Red Eye", but if that is what it takes, then so be it.

[Homer]

I've flown quite a bit, and the security wait has gone down from a couple of hours to typically just a few minutes. HOWEVER, there is significant variation from airport to airport, and wait times may increase during the holiday season. My advice would be to call your airport the day before you fly to find how long the wait is.

[GJN]

Just flew from Newark,NJ to Montana with a connection in Minneapolis and back and found the wait to be a little longer due to security but not much. However my wife recently flew round trip from Newark to Dallas and missed her return flight due to security delays. There is alot of variation from airport to airport. Enjoy your trip!

[Dave S]

Waeyes: I have flown several times since 9-11. In general you can expect longer times at baggage checkin and at the security gate. It varies widely depending on the time of the day you are traveling and also from which airports you are traveling. In general it seems the smaller airports have the least amounts of delays. If you can get by with just carry on luggage you can eliminate the longest lines I have seen which are at luggage checkin. 2 hours for domestic flights is generally plenty of time. The airlines are continuing to become more efficient in inspecting at the luggage. I would encourage you to check out the website for the airlines you are flying on several days prior to your flight for up to the date information. It is a good idea at that time to confirm flight departure times as it is not uncommon for flight departure times to change as many flights were discontined and consolidated with other flights.

[Mike Michalak]

WAeyes,

I've flown in the neighborhood of 14+ thousand miles since 9/11 and that includes internationally. Minneapolis is a joke. We have yet to have an on-time flight, some planes not being ready and lines quite long.

I've been through Detroit, Memphis, Tampa, San Diego, Minneapolis, Denver and others and all lines have been the same way. The early morning flights are your best bet, unless you get tagged (like I did) for that "random screening." The entire luggage search took about an hour and a half. Luckily, I showed up 3-1/2 hours early and arrived at the gate with only 18 minutes to spare!! Then, you get screened again before boarding. I know why it's being done, but I witnessed many passengers missing a flight and the airlines don't care. It's too bad.

Overall, I'd say if you're flying to the east coast, give it a couple hours. The Midwest and west are not so congested, but the security is tight. You can't carry on anything, and I mean anything that can be considered a weapon, including nail clippers. You also cannot possess packaged sugar or powdered cream or talcum powder. They'll ask about everything.

Once on the plane, it's business as usual, but on the ground, expect to spend some extra time.