I'm a twice a week SFO guy, usally arriving in the AM getting my car.

Usally I'm done by 4 or 5 and heading south on an early evening flight.

Am I dreaming in light of the increased security?

What airline do you fly? That will determine what security checkpoint you have to go through.

Also, do you have to check in at counter or can you go directly at the gate (printed ticket receipt and no more than one luggage plus briefcase/purse)? If you're checking in at the counter, what's your elite status?

I have avoided all security lines by replacing trips with (video)conference calls, but from what I hear in certain airports the line at the check-in counter is worse than the one at the security checpoint. The latter can be well over an hour.

Hillrider,

Thanks for the reply.

I am a United guy (1K).
I usally am bagless and alone not needing to hit the counters.

I am rethinking my stategy, both professionally and personally. It very well may pay to relocate if this keeps up>

Well, this was actually *on* 10/8, not post, but the new FAA bag restriction was already technically in effect (and they were announcing it at the gate and at security, etc.). But I had a very painless experience coming in for a late afternoon (about 4:30 pm) flight to DEN -- did curbside check-in of my bag, followed by "express" check-in inside, and had basically no wait. The regular check-in lines didn't look bad at all, either. I waited perhaps 10 minutes to go through security; the biggest bottleneck was actually boarding the flight, which took appreciably longer than usual because people weren't getting their IDs out ahead of time, etc. All in all, not bad, but you might be looking at a totally different world in the AM.

My girlfriend (a 1K) just took a 8:05 am flight this morning. She reports that it took her 45 minutes to clear check-in (1K line) and security, but she had to check in a bag for her overnight trip.

She reports that day-trips are now mostly out, as it would be murder to wake up to take a 6:00 am flight with all the delays and hassles.

I flew SFO-ORD on the 6:10am flight yesterday (10/10)... I was at the airport by 4:35am with no bags to check. The line moved pretty fast past the UA ticket-checker (you show your ID and that day's itin and they let you through to security) and security itself was moving OK-- one person helping feed bags onto the scanner, two people watching the scanner, and about three or four people "wanding" people once they passed through. I'd say that from curbside to just inside security was 10 minutes (including the stop to have my nail clipper confiscated).

The longest line I saw: the 30 of us waiting outside the RCC at 4:45am to get into the club--opens at 5am.