I was very pleasantly surprised this morning at OAK.

The lines for check-in and security were already very long when I got there at 5:50am. But the A-List lane was checked at its entrance and the line was only a few people deep. I thanked the checker for the improvement.

Having it saved WN some baggage handling effort. I was planning to check my bag because of some equipment I was carrying. I started to wait in the bagged line, but quit the long line when it was clear I wasn't getting to the front before the 45 minute limit. I figured I would gamble on the security line, knowing that short A-List line meant I would have time to be rejected, check in my bag ('very late' gets the same tag as slightly late), and re-enter the security line. As it turned out, my bag got through security with only a simplified explanation to the pondering x-ray screener.

Bottom line: the A-List line worked in OAK this morning. I was happy.