My observation in SFO on Friday morning has been that it depends largely on the airline.

DL had an average line as always, the line was a little longer at NW, but hey, the America West line stretched throughout the terminal and my guess is that for those customers, 3 hours would have been a good bet.
For sure, the elite check-in helps... so I would plan to arrive 1.0 - 1.5 hours before the flight to make sure.

I called to change a flight I had and when it was all done and over with the rep on the phone told me to arrive 4 1/2 hours ahead of time.

Live update from SEATAC this morning: security checkpoint for C/D/N gates was about 10 people deep and took about 10 minutes. It was chaos at each line. The most disturbing/wacky thing I saw was the people in front of me, the X-ray watcher called out to a friend of hers, who approached the couple and said, "do you have a... ehhh.... wine bottle open.... ehhh... open wine bottle....". Between the two of them, they couldn't come up with the English word for corkscrew. But I guess I should be heartened that they saw it? Although the people denied having one, so maybe it was a mistake.

The big line at SEATAC was the United coach check-in line. It was brutally long, I'd guess 2 hours. As each flight started to be 1.5 hours away, they called people out of line and made a new line at the former position for purchasing tickets. 1K line took us about 5 minutes to clear. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Premier line was average length (as compared to 1 month ago)

I just flew the UA red-eye out of SJC on Thurs. night... connecting through ORD. I left my home around 2 hours to departure. My biggest wait was waiting for the shuttle bus from the parking lot. There were only 5 people in front of me at the ticket/check-in counter and one person in front of me (i.e. NO wait) through security. Plenty of time to sit around and wait before boarding...
However, I should note that my SJC/ORD flight was COMPLETELY SOLD OUT... not an empty seat on the plane!

I noticed VERY long lines to get through security at BWI, though...




[This message has been edited by badgerfan (edited 09-30-2001).]

Over here in Europe, it's basically back to business as usual.

Did a CGN-TXL-CGN daytrip this week, and neither did I need to show my ID card anywhere (used the unstaffed automated check-in kiosk that operated as usual) nor was security any other than ever before.

Ticket-counter did not open before 5am and airside was opened at 5:30, as were the lounges, so with my 6:15 departure, I would have been pretty much pissed off if I had arrived at 4:15 as LH suggested.

At CGN I just went through the metal-detector, and without setting it off, I just picked up my stuff from the X-ray. AT TXL, excactly the same procedure, though I saw people that did set off the metal detector being ward-checked, even at their feet, which was new to me (ward check of your shoes, that's the new one for me). The only extra security in CGN is that all checked luggage is X-rayed before you check it in (formerly this was done only for a few randomly choosen bags) and gets tagged with a band, but no sings of that in TXL.

As to security, I did not notice any increase in police or armed guard which always have been present at airports in Germany.

Greetings - Dirk

Two other things I thought of that might be interesting.
1) They really are making you take your laptop out and x-ray it separately. It did not warm my heart to have this lady take my laptop, set it on top of the cage around the x-ray output, and yell out "COMPUTER!" It lead to a general sense of "what the heck is going on around here?" that everyone going through security had.
2) They have definately turned up the sensitivity on the metal detectors. The metal buckles in my wife's birkenstocks set it off. Answer: "go through more slowly", sure enough, didn't get set off the second time.

I just received an e-mail from Continental which included the following Frequently Asked Question:

Question: Do I have to show up at the airport two hours early?

Answer: Even with all the new enhanced security, arriving one hour early for domestic flights should give you plenty of time. Please continue to arrive 2 hours early for international flights.

For both of the flights I have taken recently, I did wind up having a long wait at the airport after arriving two hours early. Security procedures were more intense, but I never waited more than about ten minutes to get through the line.

I think there's something to be said about loose lips sinking ships, so I don't think it's appropriate to mention specific procedures or specific airports in a public forum. But for what it's worth, my recent travel included on major hub airport, one medium-sized airport served by most airlines (where I encountered the ten-minute wait), and one small airport served only by commuter airlines.

On my next trip, I think I will call the airport (and not the airline) to ask how long the security lines are running.

I flew SJC-ORD at 0625 this morning on UA, and the check in process and security had radically changed from what I encountered on a Friday morning last week.

I was in the F line, which was only 5-6 deep, but it moved very slowly. When it was my turn, the agent left (literally, we saw her walk out the doors of the airport), after telling me to step back into line. I had to wait for the nearest economy check in agent who was dealing with a family with a stroller and child seat. Last week I was through this line in 5 minutes-- this week it took 20-25 minutes.

Security had bigger delays, too. The 30-40 people for the morning flight last week had turned into probably no less than 100 people, snaking back into the airline check in area. Everyone with a laptop had to take them out of the bags and run them through the scanners. It seems like a number of people could not follow the instructions that were very clearly shouted, as they would send their laptops through in bags, just to have them stop the belt, hand them back to the person, and tell them again that they had to be out of the bags. After clearing the scanner, each laptop was carried over to a side counter to be swabbed and tested.

I arrived inside the airport about an hour ahead. I cleared security at the exact time my flight was due for departure (0625). Fortunately, they held it for about 10 minutes, though I suspect a number of people never made it through security.

I guess an hour for SJC, in the morning, using the F line, isn't going to work anymore, at least for UA.

Saturday morning in Sydney--All passengers boarding the United flight to SFO had all carry on luggage hand checked at the boarding gate. This was after passing through other security. This created a long line to enter the gate. It took about 45 min to get through the line. Of course, since the line was at the boarding gate, the flight was not taking off until everyone was checked.

A side effect of this extra inspection was that I was forced to check my suitcase that even though I was in first class.

I flew with AA from LGA-YYZ on 9/29/01 and checked in at the first class counter 70 minutes before departure and was greeted kindly as usual. Noneone said anything to me about the three hours. However, there were about 50-60 people waiting in the regualr line.

early morning Monday I had a trip through BWI on WN. 20 minutes through security.

There were very long lines to check bags, though. They looked like they were 1 hour or more. I saw these lines at ticket counters for CO, UA, WN that I walked by.

The elite lines were short or non-existent.

First/Elite check-in lines have become or more value than ever. With access to them, an hour early should more than suffice.

Anyone know what the security lines have been like at PDX in the early AM?

I just returned from an EWR-SFO-EWR trip. The outbound flight left at 8am, and I was at the airport by 6am. No one was in the 1k line when I arrived, and I had my BP in a couple of minutes. The line to security was about 40 people deep, and the entire process took nearly a half hour. They do insist on x-raying laptops separately, and they also sniffed mine. I killed time in the RCC, and when I left at 7:30am, I glanced over my left shoulder as I turned right towards the gates, and saw that the line to security had nearly vanished. There were only two ID checks: at the check-in counter up front, and then again at security. There were no further ID checks down by the UA gates pre-boarding.

It was interesting to hear the captain trip over the flight number, as he clearly wasn't used to the 8am departure being anything but UA 93 (it is now 73).

On the return leg today, there was no one in the 1k/first line, but I had problems with my e-ticket (long story) and the agent wanted to assess me a $100 change fee. I didn't want to pay it, so I hunted down one of the senior supervisors, and was able to get him to over-rule the agent. That took 30 minutes.

The line for security was not too deep - maybe 10 people, and the whole process was about 4 times faster than at EWR two days prior. Again, I was asked for ID only on initial checkin, and then at security. No ID was requested at the gate.

The lines at SFO for luggage check were horrific. Yesterday, a business associate had someone loan him a golf club, which got him into the oversized baggage line, where there was no wait. He then checked his normal bags there as well. He had come to the airport 2+ hours in advance, and he said that if he had to wait in line, he would have probably missed his flight.

Thanks Richard... just the info I was looking for. I have a 7am flight... so I'm planning to arrive around 5:30am or so... hopefully that's good timing...