Ridiculously Long Lines at BWI
 

And the culprit is Southwest. They are making all sorts of excuses, but the bottom line is that a lot of people are missing their flights despite showing up in plenty of time. Someone showed up three hours early and missed his flight. Furthermore, they are not calling people out of line in order to catch their flight.

The three reasons they gave for the long lines are that they didn't anticipate the extra traffic, that people aren't used to the new security, and that people are showing up way too early.

Excuses number one and three are complete and utter BS, if you ask me. Uh, hello, it is Christmas and you didn't anticipate extra traffic? As for the third excuse, well, maybe if they would get with the program and assign seats, they wouldn't have people showing up eight hours before their flight!

Eight hours before a flight from BWI to BDA? Hell, you could drive there in less time. What's wrong with these people?

After one trip on WN to BWI, I made a promise and not to fly WN again. The lines were so long...that people missed their flights, of course there were only there an hour earlier...and this is last year. Long lines and WN are inseparable.



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Regards,

Al

Well what would you expect at this time of the year? I think Southwest is a nice airline for a short hop in the middle of the week during most of the year.

To fly them during the holidays I would really need to take a good look.

This is when I am happy for elite status
with all the benefits that come with it.

Bermuda is about a 12 hour drive from Baltimore, after the bridge is completed. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Good, there isn't any reason to pull people out of line to cut in front of me and make me wait because they were not early enough. Over Thanksgiving the line for us to get through security was 90 minutes (short by today's standards) but would have been between 30 and 45 minutes if Delta didn't keep pulling people on earlier flights then I was and cutting them to the front of the line.

I think it sucks that the lines are so long and that people may miss their flights, but if you got there after I did for a flight before mine was leaving that isn't my fault and you shouldn't be part of the further cause for my delay. As it was you were best to show up within 30 minutes of flight time, they would immediatly take you out and put you in front of all the people who got there in time.

mdtony - you are right. It is B.S.! SW lines at BWI have been horrific every time I have been there since 9/11. Day of week and time of day haven't made much difference. You would think after 3 months, the security routine would no longer be "new" and they would have a grip on it. I fly SW a lot and BWI is the worst security scene they have going anywhere I have been.

Today at OAK in the WN terminal, 4 hours early wasn't enough for many folks, and they missed their flights and can't get rebooked for a few days. Some of the people who reporters saw outside on the 5 AM news were still not through security by the noon news.

My bad. Typo. I meant BDL.

Although Bermuda would be a lot nicer these days.

Well, you're right about people who show up like half an hour before the flight. But there are people showing up three hours before the flight who are missing their flights and the airlines (Southwest included) are telling them to show up two hours before.

For my flight on New Year's Day on Delta, since I'm not checking bags and Delta doesn't share a terminal with Southwest, I'm going to show up an hour early. That should give me plenty of time since I don't have any luggage to check.

This is why I won't fly them. I am sorry, but I don't want to wait in line for four hours and then miss my flight. That's absurd.

They are going to lose a lot of folks who fly a lot if they keep this up. Granted, they target the folks who fly occasionally who want to get the cheapest fares possible, so maybe they don't mind. But I'm not standing in line for eight hours per round trip!

"The quantity and volume of checked bags is greater than we have seen since September 11th," said (OAK) airport spokesperson Cyndy Johnson.

There were delays at San Francisco and San Jose airports also today, but nothing like Southwest's problems at Oakland.

http://beta.kpix.com/news/local/2001...d_Airport.html

Let's face facts:

Southwest @ BWI is lame, lame, lame.

Lines are horrific at check-in and again at "security." Wash POST has run numerous articles as to the severe backups at BWI, and the desperate, scrabbling attempts by airport honchos to release the bottlenecks...to no avail.

The result is aggravation, frustration, missed flights, & a free-for-all atmosphere at BWI. Thank you, elected officials.

BWI airport management is pathetique, and has not installed enough security checkpoints nor other measures to ease the passenger crush towards the gates. Once in awhile you'll read an inane quote from some feeb at BWI management re: "The reduction in flights at DCA & IAD has increased the load on our facility & we're doing the best we can." I'm feeling the effects of the curtain of garbage!!

Spare us the bullwhickey!! It's been months since the New World Airline Order has descended upon us all, and BWI is still stumbling about like a one-legged man in a butt-kickin' contest. (No apologies for the semantics: graphic terms are necessary to describe BWI's redundancies & idiocies.)

I traveled to SDQ through MIA & ended up seeking out & paying a friendly skycap usd$5.00 to scoot me through to the front of the no-end-in-sight-security-line as if I were a VIP. I zipped right on through a one-hour plus wait. No apologies here, it's "Darwin Travel" these days, because of the airlines refusal to ramp up security & security expenses. Ya snooze, ya lose. Thanks to the refusal of the airlines to hire competent & enough screeners at security checkpoints, we are all in a scrambling free-for-all to get on board.....

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Only one thing endures & that is character.
- Greeley

oops,


[This message has been edited by TrojanHorse (edited 12-22-2001).]

They have had months to deal with this problem. It is really puzzling that they have not fixed it. Since 9/11 the lines have been horrendous quite often. I know they announced that they were expanding the number of concurrent lanes but I guess it isn't enough.

Oh well...the good news is that they are doing relatively well, and any healthy airline is welcome news.

I'd gladly http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif pay way MORE than $5. to go to the front of the security line. How hard is is to find a sykcap who will actually get you there and has anyone tried it in ATL?

[This message has been edited by flowerchild (edited 12-22-2001).]