I flew out of EWR om Wednesday 11/8. There were security lines that were a mile long. It must have taken hours for some people to clear. Even the elite lines were backed up. (I was traveling with a wheelchair person so it was fairly quick)
Does anybody know what was going on?
I have to fly ewr-sfo on 11/15, what should I expect? Has it been bad all weeK?

Doesn't sound abnormal to me. The lines at EWR are ridiculous anytime I am there - which is always a mix of day of week and time of day.

-RM

Which terminal?

I fly out of Newark fairly frequently. I honestly don't find the lines to be all that bad, and that is without elite status. The Newark security checkpoints in Terminal C (Continental) don't have much waiting area, and hence the line can really appear to be backed up. But I've never waited more than 20 minutes.

It seems to have been worse in the weeks since the TSA @ EWR failed 20 of 22 FAA security tests.

Went through Checkpoint C3 (gates 120-129) at Terminal C at 6:00AM on 11/13. The worst zoo I have experienced yet (do this twice a month at that time). I actually tried C2 first which was even worse. There was an elite line but nobody was checking whether the boarding pass had "Elite Access" or not. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I flew EWR-BWI on 11/8 @ 8AM...Security line C2 was totally closed (reported and asked about it on here), TSA agents were sending people to the C1 checkpoint which was a zoo. I headed to the C3 checkpoint which was marginally better. From the looks of what was going on at C2 I think they were cleaning the floor on 11/8...today passing through EWR C2 was open and normal.

Yes the lines have been longer recently for elites at all C gates at EWR IMHO. For reference today the lines for Elite were about 30 people long (at about 2:30PM) with all 3 checkpoints open. One thing I have noticed at EWR is the TSA appears to notice the long elite lines and at every oppurtunity they clear out the line by feeding the Elites to all of the available lines for Xray. Thank You EWR TSA!

I have been recently pondering if CO should end the Elite Access promotion at this point to once again go back to the old days of Elites only boarding through those lines. It seems to me every tom , dick and harry has elite access on their BP nowadays. My 2 cents.

IIRC, Wednesday 11/8 was an extremely rainy day, with lots of weather delays at EWR. It was also the day before a NJ school vacation (kids had Thursday and Friday off). These things always contribute to the normal chaos at EWR.

I flew out of Term C at EWR on Thursday morning (7 am flight). We waited in the elite line over a half an hour just to do a bag drop. We waited in a TSA queue by the escalators to get up to the security level; and then we waited nearly a half an hour in the elite security line.

Waiting at EWR is unfortunately, the norm rather than the exception.

Flying out of EWR on Friday 12/8 on EWR-HNL at 120pm. What time would everyone suggest to get to EWR to not have any problems. Coming from Long Island (would recommend driving or train/AirTrain route).

Thanks

Guess I got lucky. Flew twice these past few weeks from Term C @ EWR. First time was Tue, 10/31/06 for a 9:05 am flight. I got to security at 8:00am, and was through in less than 5 minutes.
A week later, I got to security at 10:00am, and got through in about 10 minutes. I used the Elite Access lines both times.
Hope my luck doesn't run out!

I don't think that's the case - rather, they should force the redcoat ID checkers to enforce the line rules and kick out miscreants who sneak into that line. Those ID checkers are all two chromosomes away from being potatoes anyway...they need some recurrent training or get the boot.

I get along wonderfully with the ID checkers at FLL - they remember me by face and name and always greet me with a cheerful smile. At EWR, all I get are unintelligible grunts and wild waving of hands.

DVC2002, you should get there plenty early - feet-in-the-terminal with BPs in hand and bags checked at least 90 minutes before departure. If you miss that flight, you're done for at least one day if not more, depending on the bookings on subsequent days. I would take the LIRR and connect with the NJTransit train to the Airtrain. Low cost, predictable arrival time.

If you're in BF, get there early and hang out in the PClub or if you're in coach, buy a day pass with some of the money you will save from the parking, toll and gas you won't have to pay by taking transit.

I find that the ID checkers (not TSA people btw) are not enforcing the elite access lines at all anymore. When they find out that the person is not elite access, they don't do anything about it. This appears to be getting worse over the last few weeks.

This is frustrating. I politely stood in line every time this summer that I flew without my husband. Now I'm elite and I don't even get this benefit out of it? It seems to me that Continental has some power here to do something in Terminal C - they were the ones who created the elite line to begin with.

I have also noticed this at times only at EWR.

I got to the C3 lanes today at 8:45AM. There were exactly 3 other people there. I had my choice of 4 staffed and operating security lanes. It took me all of 1 minute.