<p>Is anyone seeing increased delays through airport security since the thwarted attack on NW Airlines last week? D is flying back to school on Tuesday (out of Hartford, CT) and we’re not sure if additional airport time is needed. Her flight is at 6:00 AM, so she’d prefer not to go any earlier than necessary.</p>
<p>Not in San Diego. Dropped D2 off at the airport last night, and security was pretty much normal.</p>
<p>We traveled New Years day out of Phoenix, and the security was not delayed - at mid morning. They usually are very good there in any case.</p>
<p>We’ve had 2 kids fly since the incident and although both report seeing more security and dogs in the airports, neither experience any delays, in fact one said he zipped through security.</p>
<p>Not in LAX. (No way the TSA was gonna do anything to slow the process until AFTER the heavy holiday season travelers get back.)</p>
<p>DD flew to CA from Hartford yesterday…mid day. She and DH said the security lines were not any more bogged down than usual. DH does say…that 6 a.m. time is a busy one…lots of business travelers at that time. DS flew back on a 6 a.m. flight after Thanksgiving and got to the airport almost 2 hours early…at that time, either it’s quick…or crowded. DH (a business traveler who almost always travels at that hour) has seen it both ways.</p>
<p>Good luck to this week’s travelers.</p>
<p>Our family flew Detroit to Hartford on New Year’s Eve day. Newspaper reports in Detroit were warning flyers that all the people heeding TSA recs to arrive at the airport 3-4 hours ahead of flight time were actually causing delays at security. We arrived two hours ahead (having already checked in online) where we would have normally only arrived one hour ahead, and encountered the shortest check-in and security lines ever. In Hartford, there did not appear to be any delays or unusual crowds (of course, at that point we were mainly concerned with getting our baggage and heading home). Traffic on the highways due to weather was the biggest issue.</p>
<p>I’ll agree with thumper1 that the longest lines I have ever seen at Bradley (and this in mid-summer) have been for 6am flights. Last summer we were there for 6am flights two days in a row (both sons heading out/bad scheduling) and barely made the luggage check-in limit of 30 minutes before the flights.</p>
<p>My DS flew out of LaGuardia at mid-day today. No luggage to check and boarding pass in hand. He would normally get to the airport an hour ahead, but today I got him there 1 1/2 hours early, which was lucky. He called and told me that the security lines were very long, but it was because of the volume of passengers traveling after the long holiday break. He said he didn’t see any obvious security enhancements.</p>
<p>Son flew out of O’Hare on Monday night, only a couple of days after the Detroit scare, and reported no change in their security procedures.</p>
<p>D flew out of LaGuardia this morning. We got there about an hour and 45 minutes before the flight, already checked in, but the line to check luggage was very long and the security line even longer. She is returning to school from a semester abroad, so bags needed to be checked. She made her flight, but it was already boarding when she made it to the gate. Personally I don’t know if its increased security (she made it through the security check quite quickly once she go there), or just residual holiday volume, but it did take awhile.</p>
<p>S is leaving for Europe on Thursday. We plan to arrive at the airport 3 hours early. British Airways says check-in opens 3 hours prior to the flight and closes 2 hours prior (kind of a narrow window, IMHO). I’m more concerned about him changing planes at Heathrow. He has to go to another terminal, re-clear security, and he only has 2 hours between flights IF his first flight is on time. His connection is the 7:30 am flight from London to Barcelona, but luckily there’s also 9:30, 11:30 and 2:30 flights to Barcelona. He’ll get there… hopefully with his luggage…</p>
<p>[What</a> Israel can teach us about security - thestar.com](<a href=“Breaking News - Headlines & Top Stories | The Star”>Breaking News - Headlines & Top Stories | The Star)</p>
<p>El Al runs its own security in the US as well. Each passenger is interviewed, face to face.</p>
<p>Lafalum, I am totally serious when I say that your son, being a young guy and all, should get off the plane and run to his next destination. Changing planes is so lengthy there, he should seriously hustle, not stop to go to the bathroom, etc. Don’t knock the little old ladies down, but zag around them and keep going!</p>
<p>Also FYI heathrow has a very strict ONE bag policy. This is typically more of an issue for girls who might have a purse and a backpack, or a purse and a briefcase, but just be forewarned. Make sure whatever he has with him on the plane can be collapsed to one bag. Good luck to all travelers!</p>
<p>And to lergnoms point, El Al asks you whatever the heck they want to ask you. If that includes where you spent the last Passover, so be it!</p>
<p>pizzagirl speaks the truth about Heathrow, on every count. Changing terminals there and making a connecting flight is almost always a nightmare. These days it’s even worse! Hope for the best and plan for the worst.</p>
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<p>Israelis profile, which we do not do in the US. So we have to check everyone’s shoes, so that we won’t run afoul of the law when all we really want to do is check the shoes of the young Muslim male who is flying from a foreign country to the US. </p>
<p>I never felt any safer when some lady in her 80s was taken off to be searched or my 10 year old daughter was asked to take a sip of her apple juice to make sure it wasn’t an explosive. I always felt like, “What a big waste of time! This isn’t making me feel any safer.”</p>
<p>Thanks, alwaysamom. I am totally serious. Run, get to the front of every line, and run some more. Don’t stop to go to the bathroom or tie your shoelace. It takes at least 1.5 hours to change flights at Heathrow and that’s with everything working smoothly and no hold-ups.</p>
<p>My H has artificial knees, so getting through security always takes a while. Before 9/11 they just looked at his scars and let him go. Now he alerts them to the metal in his knees, sets off the alarm, and waits after they call for a “male assist” (my S says he should ask for a female assist, just for a change of pace). Then there’s the patting, frisking, and questioning. Sometimes they check his carryon, too. This weekend, he went through the full-body scanner for the first time ever. He was finished and on his way in literally seconds. So yes, they were more thorough, but in his case he got through security much faster.</p>
<p>When my S goes back to school, his checked luggage will contain a straight razor that he has somehow decided is cool and manly, his two epees, because he’s decided to start fencing again, and a bottle of oregano, because my H bought a super-jumbo size at Costco that we did not need. Should be entertaining for the guys in the baggage area.</p>