What a nightmare at BOS on Friday evening. First, the new roadway configuration of the week had traffic backed up into the Callahan tunnel.
Very inefficient.
I figured I'd check in at the Admiral's Club given advice above. When I arrived at the terminal, the security line was all the way back to what was recently the Chicago flight check-in area
. Of course, they've closed the secondary security entrance that was near gates 27-29, so everyone has to pass through the main checkpoint.
My flight was at 6, I arrived at 5 -- yes, I know, I should have allowed more time, but the traffic situtation also chewed up an extra 15 minutes. Anyway, I waited in line for 10-15 minutes and realized the line was going nowhere fast. Interestingly, AA security (not their contractor) came through, and hassled the two people behind me in line. One person had a large bag of stuff, but he was
not travelling, just keeping someone company while they waited in line. AA searched
his bag while they waited in line. Strange.
Anyway, after realizing I'd miss my flight if I stood in this line, I went to the check-in counter to see if I could figure out any alternatives. While in the FC line, someone suggested I check my bag because they would either have to get me on the plane or pull the bag off if they're doing bag matching. The AA security guy above gave me a hard time about my small duffel and also laptop as being over the one carryon limit, so I figured I would go ahead and check it.
This line wasn't moving much faster, but eventually someone from AA called out for 6 PM ORD pax, got us checked in quickly, and told us to go to the special "my flight is leaving now" line at security. That line
still took 15 minutes to clear, during which some looney woman scheduled for the 5:55 DFW almost caused an incident by sneaking under the ropes and trying to cut to the front of the line. The MPs weren't too happy with her.
Now I realize that Friday night had lots of holiday-destined leisure travellers, but I'll think twice about that fun in the future.