Originally Posted by
fumje
My only revision to the above would be don't bother to arrive at the gate until perhaps 25 minutes before departure (10 minutes to flight close). In my experience, this makes for a very speedy and noninvasive SSSS check. Do go find a staff person as soon as you arrive at the gate, rather than queueing (if there happens to be a queue still) and waiting until you get to the BP scanner.
I didn't cut it quite this close, but this was spot on correct. Next time/traveling alone I would do this^.
Had to pull out electronics (with no checking to make sure I did indeed pull them all out), they swabbed that, my shoes, hands, feet...and I was good to go. Took about 3 minutes. Was very apologetic I was selected for screening. 🤷♂️
And just to add a datapoint, this did indeed occur at the gate. They had a separate area set up for extra screening for ORD/EWR departure, and it was next to E43.