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Delta says to arrive three hours before a domestic flight

Delta says to arrive three hours before a domestic flight

Old Jun 13, 2019, 6:41 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by JesseRohr
CLEAR was even worse yesterday. I spent a solid hour in line. I could have driven home quicker to BHM.
Wow that sucks.
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 8:22 am
  #17  
 
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CLEAR is a garbage program (it adds zero value to the process - the bottleneck / throughput limiter for security is not identification, it is the actual security screening process - it is just an inefficient "line-skip" program that could be done just as easily without needlessly collecting people's biometrics).

That said, at some airports, it actually helps because most people don't have it so the line skip effect matters.

In Atlanta, it doesn't even help because half of Atlanta is Diamond (obviously a massive exaggeration but you get what I'm saying) and Diamonds get it for free. So the CLEAR line is rarely better than the regular line (either the regular SkyPriority line or regular Pre-Check line if Orwellian programs are your thing).
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 11:12 am
  #18  
 
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LFT is a nightmare too. Let’s face it, almost all US airports need to be bulldozed and rebuilt. These are outdated facilities that never imagined modern air travel.
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 11:18 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by DCAproducer
If you travel out of ATL frequently invest in CLEAR.
Indeed. ATL is probably my least favorite Delta airport to be an O&D pax. As a connecting pax I really don't mind it at all.
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 12:16 pm
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by ethernal
CLEAR is a garbage program.
Agreed. And I don't think this kind of privatization should be allowed in this context. Pre-check is a good program that should be expanded (more pre-check lanes, encouraging more registration, etc).
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 1:33 pm
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by Often1

If DL thinks 3 hours is correct, but you want to take a shot at 90 minutes, that is your choice.
DL sends me those e-mails for departures out of VPS, which currently has a total of roughly 10 gates only if youre counting the Allegiant Pit of Despair on the lower level as part of that number, never had more than a five minute wait for the Pre line and is not even open to passengers three hours before the morning bank of flights go out so I wouldnt view this message as particularly targeted or as being the product of carefully researched passenger load factors
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 5:29 pm
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by jdrtravel
Agreed. And I don't think this kind of privatization should be allowed in this context. Pre-check is a good program that should be expanded (more pre-check lanes, encouraging more registration, etc).
ATL might be a bad example, but in DCA CLEAR can save you a lot of time. DC has a lot of PreCheck passengers, so Clear definitely helps.

What Id like to see is a PreCheck lane for frequent fliers and one for infrequent. Its the infrequent people who dont know what to leave in their bags, or take off or whatever that slow things down.
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 6:19 pm
  #23  
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Originally Posted by DCAproducer
What Id like to see is a PreCheck lane for frequent fliers and one for infrequent.
so like PreCheck Gold?

Not that I disagree with you. The number of people in Pre that have no idea what they're doing is very frustrating.
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 7:17 pm
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by ethernal
CLEAR is a garbage program

That said, at some airports, it actually helps because most people don't have it so the line skip effect matters.
Yeah to me it is a lot of fuss just to skip one step.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.

However one bad line day and all that is out and it may be the difference in making your flight or not.

Originally Posted by DCAproducer
What Id like to see is a PreCheck lane for frequent fliers and one for infrequent. Its the infrequent people who dont know what to leave in their bags, or take off or whatever that slow things down.
I agree... but could this be solved just by not giving pre check to randoms? A colleague that doesn't fly often and certainly did not apply for it has got pre check on all legs of the last (only) two trips they made this year. I would gather anyone who bothers to apply and pay for it would be frequent enough to not hold up the line.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 7:28 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by defrosted
Yeah to me it is a lot of fuss just to skip one step.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.
Not to drift to a Security and Borders forum topic, but let's be completely clear (pun possibly intended): CLEAR never had good intentions. The Registered Traveler program clause in the original TSA charter (of which CLEAR uses) was always designed with the express intent of getting technology ready - and more importantly - people used to (and incentivize) the idea of providing "enhanced" identify verification (biometrics, or in the very first iteration pre-2008-ish, an enhanced identity card) such that it could - in the distant future (which is increasingly now) - be expanded to all travelers with less friction and resistance.

There has never been a valid business or economic reason or rationale for CLEAR to require biometrics. It is purely an intentionally designed program using a specific TSA clause that was itself designed to normalize what most would consider abnormal requirements.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 10:40 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by defrosted
Yeah to me it is a lot of fuss just to skip one step.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.

However one bad line day and all that is out and it may be the difference in making your flight or not.


I agree... but could this be solved just by not giving pre check to randoms? A colleague that doesn't fly often and certainly did not apply for it has got pre check on all legs of the last (only) two trips they made this year. I would gather anyone who bothers to apply and pay for it would be frequent enough to not hold up the line.
Agreed. I thought TSA was supposed to stop the random PreCheck for people who didn't go through the application process. When I was traveling for work around spring break time it amazed me how many random people ended up in PreCheck and had no idea what it was.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 11:29 am
  #27  
 
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Delta does this at PDX too. Must arrive 3 hours before. When you get to the check-in counter 3 hours before the early flights, its not even open yet. People standing in line waiting for the Delta employees to show up for work.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 11:39 am
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by DCAproducer
[left]

What Id like to see is a PreCheck lane for frequent fliers and one for infrequent.
Better idea: they get rid of all the dumb rules people don't understand and just make everyone use the same lane (which creates more incentives for them to keep the staffing levels adequate). If elites (and I don't just mean frequent flyers, I mean like, congressmen) can just bypass the problem then nobody cares about the problem and it never gets fixed.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 11:57 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by CO-PLAT
Delta does this at PDX too. Must arrive 3 hours before. When you get to the check-in counter 3 hours before the early flights, its not even open yet. People standing in line waiting for the Delta employees to show up for work.
That's hilarious.. PDX is the one airport I feel comfortable getting to at around T-30 and still making my flight.
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