<p>My son is flying home from school for Christmas, and I am supposed to pick him up at the airport.</p>
<p>But to my great embarrassment, I don’t know how to pick up a person at an airport anymore. The last time I was in an airport was before 9/11. In those days, you met your passenger at the gate, but that’s not allowed anymore, right?</p>
<p>Could somebody who has picked up a person at an airport under the current security rules tell me what I’m supposed to do?</p>
<p>Generally we pick up people at the baggage claim.</p>
<p>We live 25 mins. away from the airport, and have people call us when their plane touches down. By the time we get there, they’ve gotten their luggage, and we can pick them up outside at the pick-up zone.</p>
<p>Thanks. That’s a big help. </p>
<p>I didn’t know that baggage claim is not inside the secured area.</p>
<p>I’m not sure, though, whether my son will be checking baggage. He’s only coming home for a short period of time, and he has some clothes at home. He might decide to travel with only a carry-on bag (I will have to ask him).</p>
<p>Has anyone picked up someone at an airport recently who didn’t need to go to baggage claim? Where did you meet the passenger?</p>
<p>You can:</p>
<p>1) Park and meet them in Baggage Claim.</p>
<p>2) Park and meet them where the security area ends. (you go to baggage claim and then backtrack to the escalator, ramp, walkway that defines the end of the secure area)</p>
<p>3) (Our favorite) Wait in the cell phone lot of your airport, free parking and wait for a cell phone call from your passenger and meet them at the curb.</p>
<p>You cannot wait at the curb for a passenger who is not there, you cannot go to the gate unless you get a pass from customer service which takes forever and they are only likely to grant to pick up minor children, etc. You can try circling the airport until you get that cell phone call but it is not pleasant.</p>
<p>Yah! for returning children!</p>
<p>If he is flying with carry on only, remind him of the liquids ban. He is allowed to carry on liquid/gels in only ONE bag, a ONE quart ziplock bag, each item in the bag must be 3 ounces or less and he should remove it from his carry on for the security screening so it can be screened separately.</p>
<p>
Our favorite method, too. We drive about an hour to the airport and time it so that S1 waits for us on the curb.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, everybody.</p>
<p>Timing varies from San Francisco area airport to airport but my general approach is to wait outside the airport in the cell phone lot. The goal is for them to wait a minute or two curbside and then you pull up. You can’t wait curbside so if they are not there, you have to drive around the airport again - which I don’t want to do as it is a major hassle at both SFO and SJC.</p>
<p>Have the passenger call when they get off the plane - e.g. when they have gotten off the jet way. That is when I leave the cell phone lot. Have them call again when they get curbside, letting you know exactly where they are - e.g. there is normally a number over the door. They should move as far away from the other people as possible - most people huddle like sheep outside the door that is straight ahead from the escalator - resulting in all of the cars trying to get to that spot.</p>
<p>You can also park the car and meet them inside the terminal in the area just before security. They’ll be coming out through there.</p>
<p>Once the plane is in the air, I will call the airlines automated flight arrival number for updates as to when they will be landing. Then I plan accordingly to how long it takes me to get to the airport, get their luggage (if they checked it) and get outside after they’ve claimed their baggage. I leave for the airport based on this guesstimation.</p>
<p>Also, in order to avoid the long lines of cars often at passenger arrival, some people choose to tell the person they’re meeting that they’ll pick them up at passenger departures. If your son doesn’t check baggage and you prefer to pick up him at passenger arrivals, remind him he will need to go down to baggage claim regardless in order to get to the proper level for you to pick him up.</p>
<p>On one trip when I didn’t check any bags, I headed to the closest door exit and called my husband to let him know I was waiting. It was late at night, and I was exhausted. He kept asking me where I was, and I kept telling him; he said he was at passenger arrival but couldn’t see me. Ends up I had exited the wrong door and couldn’t understand why he couldn’t find me. I had to go back in the airport and go downstairs to baggage claim, THEN go outside. Like I said, I was waaaaay tired that night.</p>
<p>I may do what you suggest, ucla<em>ucsd</em>dad, even if my son doesn’t check any baggage.</p>
<p>I have about an hour’s drive to the airport, but my son is arriving just after rush hour, so I will need to leave a lot earlier than an hour before his arrival time to allow for traffic. If the traffic isn’t too bad, I may be very early, and I would rather wait inside the airport, rather than in the cell phone lot (even though I will have to pay for parking).</p>
<p>If we are way early, we stop at one of the nicer airport hotels and have a coffee and some TV or internet. We then either have DS take the hotel bus and meet us at the hotel or have him call us to meet him outside at baggage. Mommy likes to the mommy thing, & meet him as he comes out of the gates while I wait at a hotel. One of the better hotels at certain hours have a nice happy hour.</p>
<p>
You can also track the flight live from your computer and see exactly where it’s at during its flight -
[FlightAware</a> > Live Flight Tracker](<a href=“http://flightaware.com/live/]FlightAware”>Live Flight Tracker - FlightAware)</p>
<p>And if the airline is delaying flights without providing information about what is going on, this website could be helpful:</p>
<p>[Flight</a> Delay Information - Air Traffic Control System Command Center](<a href=“http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp]Flight”>National Airspace System)</p>
<p>wow–
I started to post a response but got sidetracked, and you have in the meantime gotten great advice!</p>
<p>Do you mind sharing what airport you are dealing with??
We dont happen to have a cellphone waiting area at our airport, but there are other places to wait. We typically park in the hourly lot and go in and wait at the top of the escalater where the arriving passengers come up (like item #2 in DeniceC’s post #5). Dont know your airport (yet) but wherever the limp drivers stand with their signs is where you are allowed to stand and wait for your kiddo.</p>
<p>Yesterday my s’s flight was actually early, so I picked him up outside at the curb outside of baggage claim. As others have said, if you arrive before your s you cant park and wait there. In our airport there is a lower level “kiss and ride” (where you drop off departing passengers) and sometimes you can hang out there for a short time before the cops make you move along, but its unpredictable, and my s didnt know wehre that was, so we didnt do that yesterday. You can probably go to your city’s airport website and see the options they suggest for picking up arriving passengers. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, got all the way to page 2 and nobody (well, finally Jym did) asked you what airport! Does everyone know you that well? Local customs vary slightly. Here in Charlotte we have been very pleased by how easy it is to park close to the terminal. Picking up we paid $1, but the dropoff went so quickly (walked kid to security) we were charged nothing for parking! </p>
<p>I like to get as close as possible to meet my party at the airport. I guess this harkens back to the days when we could go to the gate. I go to the closest spot to security where passengers exit on the way to baggage claim. I check with a security guard to make sure that passengers arriving at gate so-and-so will have to exit through that door, because you know if there is another exit available my son will take it and sneak past me. We also try to make cell phone contact as soon as possible to check locations and progress. </p>
<p>Very different situation in Newark where they have three nearly identical terminals, A, B, and C, where we spent one very confusing evening exchanging frustrated calls with my mother, “We are HERE, where are YOU?” … “I am HERE, where are YOU??”
finally figured out we were at terminal A, and she was at terminal B… not walking distance.</p>
<p>I’m going to BWI, just outside of Baltimore, jym626, and I have to be there just after the evening rush hour.</p>
<p>That airport does have a cell phone lot, although I think I would rather pay to park in the daily lot and wait inside the airport. </p>
<p>As I mentioned to someone else, I’m going to need to allow quite a lot of extra time for my drive to the airport in case of bad traffic, but if the traffic isn’t too bad, I may have a long wait at the airport. I think I would rather do my waiting inside the airport, rather than sitting in the cell phone lot on a cold evening. </p>
<p>Another reason for going inside the airport is that my son, who is at school in southern California, left his winter coat at our home in Maryland because he wouldn’t be needing it at school. I’m going to bring it with me to the airport. I don’t think he would enjoy waiting at the curb at night in December in Maryland with no coat.</p>
<p>Make sure he knows that departures are upstairs and arrivals/baggage claim are downstairs at most airports. When S flew home the first time with no baggage, he just walked straight out the first door he saw. We were circling below in the pickup area. We have a common make car and he said he saw us, but we couldn’t see him, and, of course, it was someone else’s car.</p>
<p>At our airport, it is much easier to stop in the departure area, so if he only has carryon, he can come right out. You still can’t park there and wait, but if you’re in cell phone contact, that’s a helpful place to meet with less traffic.</p>
<p>Good advice about the quart ziploc bag. Don’t forget also that computers have to come out separately, too. Shoes and belts and jackets have to come off. He should also empty all his pockets into his carryon (cell phone, keys, change) before he gets to security. That will save time and he is less likely to lose things that way.</p>
<p>S2 uses an empty spice bottle with a screw on cap to soak his sax reeds in and carries one with him almost constantly (you never know when you need to soak a reed!). That caused a bit of a quandary at security because he forgot he had it. I’m sure that was the first time the security people had heard that explanation, but he was able to just dump out the water. Good thing it was water, because one of his teachers recommended soaking in vodka!</p>
<p>If kids are inexperienced travelers, it’s also a good idea to let them know what to do if there’s a problem–flight cancelled, flight delay, gate checking luggage, having to purchase food/drinks on board. We had a flight delay/missed connection on the way back from Thanksgiving. They were able to offer him a seat on a flight to a town an hour away, but he didn’t know what to do when he got there about ground transportation. Thought he might have to gate check is carryon because of a small plane, and I reminded him that if he gate checks something in the US, you pick it up at the door of the plane and take it with you to the next plane.</p>
<p>BWI is pretty easy to get around, but it’ll probably be easier to wait in the baggage claim area even if he doesn’t have checked baggage. You can find out what gate he’s arriving at from the TV monitors and wait at the bottom of the appropriate escalator. It there are a lot of people traveling that day, it could be pretty congested upstairs.</p>
<p>Here’s info on BWI’s passenger pick-up and hourly parking. NOTE the construction and lane closures:
[Baltimore/Washington</a> International Thurgood Marshall Airport | Parking Info](<a href=“http://www.bwiairport.com/directions_parking/parking_info/]Baltimore/Washington”>http://www.bwiairport.com/directions_parking/parking_info/)
We have the “pay and go” option at our airport as well-- pay for your parking at the machine before you return to your car and the lane you go through to exit the airport is faster. Just be SURE to bring the receipt the machine prints out–you’ll need to put it in the gizmo to make the bar go up.</p>