MilesBuzz! - Jan 18th - new bad screening, how bad is it?

(sorry for the typo - BAG screening)

So, I guess the new measures are now in place. How bad are the lines and how are all the new procedures being implemented?

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Gaucho100K

[This message has been edited by Gaucho100K (edited 01-18-2002).]

Flying my weekly UA DEN-ORD flight yesterday evening, the lady at UA check-in told me that UA had actually implemented their procedures that day (Thursday). I got a pre printed piece of paper stating their new rules: bag check-in at least 45 minutes before departure, seat assignment given away 20 minutes before (same as before).

My flight seemed fairly normal, nothing out of the ordinary, left a little late and arrived 20 minutes late. The thing I did notice was that most UA O'Hare arrivals seemed to be about 20 minutes late on average, which could be directly related to the new measures in place yesterday. Hence, I saw many more people than usual running for connections.

Security lines at DEN though seem to be creeping up again to the 45 minute level, as they have less than 1/2 of the machines open for use.

Just checked in at Dulles airport at the NW counter, no one (zero) in line at either the reg or Elite check in. I checked in at 10:30 a.m. Put my bags thru the bag screener for my checked luggage (one bag)

Security at IAD main terminal, walked right to the security check point, easy and clean.. no wait..

So far it is PERFECT

Hopefully, the screening is not bad quality as the typo topic says!!!

I am guessing that all this fuss with the press was to get people to arrive at the airport earlier.

So far, so good.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Gaucho100K:
So, I guess the new measures are now in place. How bad are the lines and how are all the new procedures being implemented?
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Gaucho, basically the measures are the same as you experience on your almost daily international flights (it seems from reading your posts sometimes that you fly internationally almost every day http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ). The problems will occur when someone who has checked bags does not get on the flight for whatever reason. Then the ramp rats will have to go into the hold and find those bags and pull them off.
jerry

Flew out of St. Louis this morning, lines were about the same (very long) but were getting people through security efficiently.

There were a lot more AA employees on the job this morning at the ticket counter, so those lines were not as long. They also had employees at the OneStop checkin making sure you went through the extra screens that they added.

I think people showed up earlier today for flights, as there was not a lot of panicked people waiting in line to clear security.

I did have one person on my flight who was on a later flight, trying to get on the earlier one and was trying to negotiate getting his bag on the same flight.

Tomorrow it's Southwest, we'll see how thing go over there.

40 minutes from curb to gate at midday today at SLC; 2 checked bags. The bigger issue in Salt Lake is snow and low ceiling.

I encountered no problems whatsoever out of SEA on Friday afternoon.

Nothing out of the ordinary at LAX Friday morning checking in with National Airlines. Delta seemed to have a huge line next door though.

I didn't encounter any problems at JFK, but there were long lines at MIA (I had expected it though) and I'm glad I didn't miss my connecting flight to GYE.

Remember a few things:

Lots of us cancelled flights Friday and went home on thursday.

Newspapers always print gloom and doom so pushed that a nightmare would occur... soooo people showed up 3 hours before flights in many instances.
(BTW, the same newspapers and TV crews only interviewed old people or honeymooners who were sssoooooo happy that they were safer Friday.. I didnt see one interview of a business traveler)

AND MOST IMPORTANT...everything that went into effect was cosmnetic.. we are no safer or les safe today than 9-11. It is still unmitigated bull **** and everyone from the President of the UNS down knows it!

I flew DFW-PHX yesterday (18th).

Not a porblem at all.

We left at 8:00 am.

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TANSTAAFL - but if you work it right, FF miles comes pretty close.

LAX was a breeze on Saturday 1/19.

See my post here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/006137.html

Not only are things working pretty well, but most of the airlines started the new procedures a few days in advance at some airports without the pax even knowing.

So where are all the people who have been bashing the transportation security act for the past two months, saying that this type of checked baggage policy could never possibly work under any circumstances?

There were quite a few, if I recall.

d

Why should the lines be any different? What the airlines now have to cope with occurs (for the most part) "behind the scenes." Postive bag match means that the ramp agents and gate agents must communicate. THe passenger is already processed.

Lines should move the same. But I would expect departure delays instead.

Was dropped off this morning in front of Term 7 at LAX at 10:00 am.
Was in the RCC at 10.05
A breeze.

Wife flew from IAH-OAK Friday afternoon. Her luggage, as well as the luggage of about 15 other passengers, did not arrive.

The amusing part (if you have a weird sense of humor) was that all 15 passengers had Continental PRIORITY tags on their bags.

I don't know that this is related to the new procedures -- more likely that it's just a random screw-up.

Spend a couple of nites at the LAX Rennaisance overlooking the runways from the room, and paid a visit to CO terminal on 1/18 and 1/19.

I thought the airport had shut down with VERY few flights arriving or departing. THe terminal had very few passengers and only a few people in line.

Strange compared to my passing through LAX in December. Appears many people changed their plans to fly on other days or cancelled. The shuttle drivers agreed, that it was very slow. There was next to NO vehicle traffic compared to my many visits.

The airlines must be saving a zillion miles!

Took my uncle to EWR yesterday for a flight on CO to FLL at 2:00 PM. No lines anywhere. Checked in at the curb and then got a pass to take him to the gate. No lines at Security. Lot of people at the gate over an hour before departure. Flight left right on time.

Pat

I went to Phx out of MSP on Friday morning. 9:30 am flight that I was warned I needed 3 hours for ontop of a 3 hour drive to get to MSP. (do the math..it was ugly) Got my eticket and was in the WC in 15 minutes.
Returned this morning on a 8am flight out of PHX. Got to the airport at 6:40. Due to the old people trying to work the eticket printer (and I'm 50, so you know these folks were OLD) it took a me 40 minutes to get to the gate.
In short, much ado about nothing..

I just came through Terminal 2 at O'Hare this afternoon around 2 and there were no backups.

Flew IAD - ATL on Delta Friday. Getting through IAD was easy, no lines at all. Flew standby on an earlier flight, with a checked bag. Agent at check-in used a green standby luggage tag. Cleared standby list and bag arrived on new flight. We did pull back from the gate 1/2 hour late. Pilot made announcement that it was due to bag matching. ATL security lines were back up to baggage claim at about 4:30pm. Also, overheard two Hartsfield employees conversing about check in lines being backed up into the baggage claim earlier in the day.

ATL security back-ups into baggage claim (sometimes all the way to the MARTA station) are actually fairly common, since before 1/18. They seem to be tied to the periodic cycles (can't remember their term for it) of Delta flights, along with a couple of big AirTran pushes during the day. I've never hung around long enough to figure out the daily cycle, although it would be great if some FT with way too much time on his/her hands could spend some time and track the lines - sort of like the solunar tables that tell you when to go fishing!

Returned from MCO on Saturday - no lines at check-in or security. Had to change terminals at JFK and go thru security again, also no lines.
It seems most airlines are using the bag-match which should be fairly easy provided everyone who checks a bag gets on the plane. I did hear a few announcements in MCO pleading for a certain few passangers to get to their gate as the plane was waiting - maybe to avoid having to find their bags in the cargo hold!

I just flew back from New Orleans and man, are my arms tired.

Thanks, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your bartenders.

As far as security goes, there were no problems for me. I didn't check any bags so I don't know if that would be a problem. But the lines for security took around ten minutes to get through, max.

I flew on UA from DCA to ORD on Jan. 18. All checked luggage had to go through an x-ray machine and UA was still in a learning curve but the lines were very short but a little confusing.

My connection from ORD-TPA we had to pull back to the gate, as there was some confusion about a voluntary bumped passenger who stayed behind but whose bag was still on the flight. After a 10 min. delay they decided that it was OK to leave the bag on board.

My return TPA-ORD and ORD-DCA on Jan. 21 was uneventful with no additional delays or security procedures in evidence.

Warning: Those X-ray machines will destroy any photo film according to the tiny sign on the machine.