jorgelito

Charlatan: Changi is one of the best airports in the world, hands down.

It really depends on the airport. Frankfurt (FRA), LAX, and ORD and notorious for their long lines and delays. ORD mostly due to weather though. Actually, I take that back, ORD has been pretty good at the security lines. LAX is probably worst. I won't even mention JFK, Newark or La Guardia. It also depends on your airline. United is pretty jacked up when it comes to their ground ops.

But yeah, it's definitely hours and hours. For those of you who can park, check-in, and get to the boarding gate in less than 15 minutes, consider yourselves lucky. At SFO, just to get from the domestic terminal to the international terminal takes 30 minutes. It's a big airport.

Unless you have been through Ben Gurion why don't you shut up and deal with different opinions. I wasn't talking about El AL, why don't you try reading the post instead of putting words in my mouth.

The security process at Ben Gurion is laborious and involved. After 3-4 hours of going through security, they still missed some "souvenir's" I had in my luggage I got from the border with Lebanon (I should post pics in weaponry to see if anyone can identiy them). So yes, their security is not as great as advertised in one sense.

I think Israel may be in a unique situation though. Their security takes twice as long. It was pretty bad when I crossed the border from Egypt in to Israel and it was pretty bad when I crossed the border from the West Bank back into Israel.

But I do like the free wireless internet they provide at Ben Gurion.

ngdawg

I fly out of Newark and, while I'll admit it's maybe once a year, rarely twice or more, I've never had to go through anything and have it take a 'couple of hours'. When buying tickets, they tell you to come two hours early, but I spend 2/3 of that walking around or sitting...all of my flights have been either Friday mornings (after 9am) or Monday mornings; whether that makes a difference in the waiting times, I don't know...
I think a lot of the hassles that come could be avoided if people didn't carry on luggage; check it in! Laptops, I can see, but there's a reason there's a luggage check-in. And I don't use the self-check, I give it to and watch it get tagged at the counter.
Everyone's in a hurry and think their hurry is more important than the next guy's, then get pissed off when they have to open a bag or fill a box with all the crap they're bringing aboard. Yes, the rules are silly and they probably won't be changed. And yes, getting by with a lighter or shampoo just shows how well they're working. But if it's such a pisser for you or anyone else, it makes sense to make the hassle a bit easier to get through by making minor changes to your own method of travelling by air.

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jorgelito

You are very lucky my dear. Another way to look at it is to compare it to "rush hour". If everytime you drive is during rush hour then yes, it will be crazy. So you probably "drive" (travel by plane) during off peak times while seem to be not only peak times, but at heavily congested airports.

Now, if you are in rush hour, just imagine if you had to stop your car at a checkpoint and have the security guys look through your car, make you remove the tires and take out anything electronic.....

ngdawg

Security checks aren't more lax because of the time, though. If you are going to insist on bringing luggage with you instead of checking it at the counter, then you can't complain if they inspect it.
Don't wear a belt. Don't bring a ring of keys. Wear shoes that can be slipped on and off instead of untied/tied. If you know what's an inconvenience, why would anyone continue to inconvenience themselves and thus others when it's for certain nothing is going to change?
We do have something quite similar to car-checks, but we call it the "Garden State Parkway" Some of us have to be inconvenienced because we don't have EZPass.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

Stoked

America, land of the free.

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The_Jazz

I travel at least as much as anyone else here. I was actually traveling when this was posted but didn't have the time to respond since I was traveling with a toddler.

For the record, I'm at about 35,000 miles this year between United and American, with almost all of those being on United.

In my opinion, security is a joke, but as Carno bluntly put it, it's here to stay. We've lost the magic moment of meeting your sweatheart at the gate, but on the plus side, you now have the opportunity to get athlete's foot from the floors. I've been pulled aside for having a container that was 3.1 oz, and I've also walked through with a full bottle of Diet Coke in my bag, both in the last 2 months.

The smaller an airport, the tougher the security. Also, they set their metal detectors on a lower threshold. I can walk through the O'Hare detectors wearing my watch, belt and wedding ring, but in any airport with less than about 25 flights (nonscientifically) wearing the exact same items, I will set off the alarm. It helps to know which airports have long lines (Atlanta, Boston) beforehand, but I usually just have to play it by ear.

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