Post WTC: Trip report
 

This morning I flew from pbi-iah(flight 1731)
I'm connecting on to slc in 90 mins. Some details for about todays flight.

4:50am arrive PBI, airport areas had more police presence than normal.

Approx 40 people waiting at ticket counter.
7 people ahead of me on the first class check-in line.
Passengers are in good spirits, very friendly towards each other.

ticket counter opens at 5:30am

Although I did not use one, people appeared to be using the e-ticket machines

check-in begins approx 5:25am, everything is very orderly

During check-in, Photo ID checked, standard 2 security questions asked.

Only noticable difference is that bags are checked to verify that they had ID on them.
Ticket counter agent checked the name on the luggage tag to see that it matched my passport. I also noticed several people that were told they needed ID on the bags or they would not check them.

5:50 reach security check-point. This is a noticable difference.
Photo ID checked very closely, security matches name on boarding pass with
name on photo id. You can see them checking the exact spelling on the id
and boarding pass. BTW: security is extremely polite(lots of good mornings
and thank yous can be heard). Metal detectors seem to be set to very sensitive
level. People that fail the machine check are checked via hand held detector, very
thoroughly. People are actually patted down. Nobody seems to complain.

The wait at the security check-point is about 5 minutes. Palm Beach is a smaller aiport and it was 6am, but lines at security was not long.

Arrive at the gate around 6:00am.

Keep in mind the flight was very empty, mostly Continental flight crew. This MD-80 had approximately 35-40 non-continental passengers.

As we boarded they did NOT check ID again.

One interesting(at least I thought so) note, I noticed the baggage handlers checking bag tags as the loaded them. I can't be sure, but it looked like they had a list they were comparing tags against. They clearly were checking bags. I noticed 2 placed off to the side and not loaded immediately.

The inflight service was pretty much the same except for one very noticable(at least to me) difference. The standard First Class silverware pack was no more, the knife was not metal but a flimsy plastic one.

You could also sense a lot of people checking out their fellow passengers, a lot of eye contact as people boarded, much more than normal.

I'm at the President's club in Houston right now and I've heard from other people that lines at the ticket counter here are very long. 20 mins on the elite line is what one person told me.

Thanks for the update. Let us know how the IAH-SLC segment goes.

I hope to get back home tomorrow. I'm stuck here in California, but I am very glad that I rented a car Sunday night.

If anyone has any trip reports for departures from the SF Bay area airports on CO or HP, I would be most interested. Thanks.


[This message has been edited by bry99 (edited 09-14-2001).]

I just checked in at IAH for a flight to MSY. The eticket machines are turned off here, but they were checking people in manually at the eticket area in IAH where you can check luggage. There were no additional restrictions on carry on luggage at IAH. I was able to clear security with my standard roller bag and computer bag. There were plenty open gate agents and did not have to wait in any line. ID was checked at ticket counter and at security check point by CO employee. All were very polite and courteous. There was no wait at the security check point either. I arrived early expecting long lines and now have 2 hours to kill. South President's club is very quiet. Most flights appear to running on time. There were several CO refreshment stations set up outside of security. Over all today's experience was very painless. I will post how the boarding process goes later on.

------------------
Rachel
CO - Gold
Hilton - Diamond
SPG - Platinum

Thanks for all the useful information. My weekend mileage run got scrapped (didn't want to be one of the first people to work the kinks out of the system anyway), but this is useful. I'm now especially leery of connections at those multi-terminal airports where you have to go through security again at the other terminal (notably between A and C at Newark).

If the eTickets in the rest of the country go like those at ATL, it seems half the people using them before were being gently directed to them and having their hands held by gate agents anyway. I'm sure the idea before was to get people weaned from the check-in counter so they'd have efficiency gains down the road, but at least they still have counter staff to handle that part whether they use machines or not. Losing the skycaps no doubt hurt, though, adding to the lines. I wonder what happens to those people now.

Just an added update:

IAH-SLC was a very uneventful flight. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Other than seeing 2 empty seats in FC that is.

I did notice however a large number of continental planes parked on the tarmac well away from the terminal.

Gordo was interviewed by Tom Brokaw today:

I Flew back home Friday from SEA to IAH. I counted at least 40 crew members on board (as pax). I sat next to an FA who was in the air when the attacks happened. We had sixty folks on standby and they cleared at least 40. I was able to check in at an E-ticket machine, ID check and the questions where the same. A SWA employee was attending the line at the security checkpoint verifiying we had boarding passes, there was no secondary ID check at security. The F/A greeting pax boarding the plane did ask to see our boarding pass stubs. The flight was uneventful.
I am flying back to SEA on Sunday so far that flight is still scheduled, It looks as though, that CO has canceled only one flight to SEA on Sunday.


*** GOD BLESS AMERICA ***

[This message has been edited by iahsea (edited 09-15-2001).]

CO 165 SJC-EWR this morning (Sunday 9/16):

3rd question asked at check-in:

"Are you carrying any sharp objects?"

Security checked at screener with boarding pass match. Should've been doing this all along.

Flight scheduled for 8 AM. Arrived airport at 5:15. Ungodly non-elite lines for NW. Long non-elite lines for CO, too.

However, I walked right up and was served immediately in the Elite line.

By 5:30, I was eating breakfast, wondering what I was going to do for 2 hours.

Then after I arrived at EWR and drove to PVD to pick up my car. It was either that or stay overnight in EWR, since the late PVD flights were cancelled.

I almost drove off the road staring at the place the WTC used to be.

Tomorrow I'm off to Seattle. On HP (ugh!). I read tonight where they've discontinued all catering. Joy.

Not much seems different -- except that many people seem somber and there are lots of cops around.

Rich

Catering on America West's flights to SEA and PDX was miniscule before this change, anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'll miss the food, it's just that the lack of food on these 2hr flights (especially at meal times) has always irked me. The only nice thing is the one ticket agent who gives me a meal voucher to use when I'm flying to PDX/SEA http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif.

It is the BOS-PHX leg that will be long without the food.

Rich

Flew LAX-EWR on Sunday with little trouble.

Car rental shuttle dropped off at the terminal as usual. I showed up 1 1/2 hours before the flight. Had bags, so headed straight to the ticket counter.

#2 in the elite line. It was a good day to be elite ... a colleague who arrived before me was still standing toward the end of a line that stretched outside the terminal. I got her and put her on the FC standby list.

Only the additional sharp objects question (knives, nail clippers, anything in a glass container). Agent apologized for the increased security screening.

Asked at the bottom of the escalator to the gate area for ID/boarding pass. Asked again at the top of same escalator for ID/boarding pass.

Went to PC. (Still 1+ hours to takeoff.) Surprised to see knives -- metal and plastic -- in a tray near the snacks. Just butter knives, but in light of recent events and the screening questions...

After boarding, most of F was still empty. I think only about 9-12 showed on the 767. Coach was over; they moved one from coach up.

Uneventful flight, except for a sudden and sharp bump about 10 minutes before landing.

Saw the smoke rising from tip of Manhattan as we landed. A really depressing sight.

[This message has been edited by rocky (edited 09-17-2001).]

I've made two trips since Saturday. No "sharp objects" questions.

(This turned out to be a long ramble but I thought of lots of fine points as I wrote it.)

I flew OAK-PHX-SAT on Sat. The DL and AS lines were horrendous when I got there(~06:00). HP had a couple of dozen people in line. The Elite line was zero and I breezed to the counter.

They upgraded me (CO Plat) well outside of their 2 hr. window. When the agent issued the ticket she said "Uh oh. You've been selected". This meant the computer randomly picks several pax on each flight and they riffle through every item in your checked luggage.

The people who are whining about racial profiling are just dead wrong. I'm a fairly big Caucasian guy with a pony tail and beard and got nailed. The couple in front of me getting searched were Mr. and Ms. Caucasian Middle American who were (get this) Red Cross workers headed for Manhattan. They had a brief case full of ID and documents but their luggage got searched nontheless.

Note: If you have any sharp objects like a knife, nail file, clippers, screwdriver, etc. put it in your checked luggage or leave it at home. They had a big box of these items at the security check point that people had to leave behind.

The agents did look more carefully at ID at the counter. As others have pointed out, their was a table full of airline employees before the security checkpoint stopping everyone except ticketed passengers. At OAK they matched the ticket with your ID. They didn't do this at PHX, just verified you had a ticket.

I noticed that the CO Eticket machines were turned off in OAK. I didn't look in PHX. I have heard/read conflicting info on whether or not you have to have a boarding pass to get past security. I had them but would suggest verifying with the airline.

All in all, from the time I walked in the door at OAK until I got to the gate it took only slightly over 30 min. It's very important to note that this was using the Elite check in line. I'd hate to guess what it would take in the regular line. I didn't go through the check in process in PHX but noted that there was no line at security at about 11:00.

Both of the flights were on HP and they were roughly 50% full. Both flights had empty seats in FC. That's on two of their crappy 737's with only 8 FC seats.

When I got home, SAT was practically deserted. It was right at 16:15. They would not let anyone park in front of the terminal. If you were picking someone up and they weren't there to get in the car, you had to drive around again.

I noted at Terminal 2 in SAT that they had closed the parking area right across the street. Also, the rental car area at OAK had been moved to roughly 50 yds. further out from the terminal.

One final difference that I noticed is that almost everyone is very patient and courteous. It's just a shame that it took this to get us there.

E-ticket machines were turned off at CRP this morning. Ironically, they were on at HOU, but no flights were showing on the board at the brand new CO ticket counter. (What a waste!)

Ht_redneck, your experience flying from CA to SAT on HP seems very similar to mine -- except that upon arriving at SAT, I was mystified regarding where all the cabs were.

Has anyone out there noticed disappearing taxi stands at other airports?

Hey boomer, u were on my flight from PBI to IAH on friday. Wasn't it strange in IAH, there was really no one there and all the places just sitting out on the tarmac. I went on to LA, and first wasn't full either. Yesterday on my return it wasn't full from LAX-IAH, I got my friend upgraded.