How have the waits been at your airport?

[Barb D]

For those of you who have traveled in the last few days (since things have calmed down after the initial rush of stranded people trying to get home) how have the security waits been at your airport (and which airport is it?) I'm particularly interested in BWI. I heard last week that we're supposed to get there FOUR HOURS in advance. I'm going to call the airport tomorrow to see what they're saying now, but I'd love to hear about your experiences.

 

[threeboysmom]

Hi Barb,
We just flew home yesterday from Orlando and the waits were a bare minimum. The airports are still pretty dead with no one wanting to fly. We flew out of Manchester, NH and got there 2 hours ahead of time and ended up sitting around at the gate for 1-1/2 hours .... Same thing at Orlando Airport - got there 2 hours ahead of time and ended up sitting around. Both flights were only about 25-30% full. It was eerie - no children on these direct flights to and from Orlando (except mine and a couple others).

Kimberly

 

[julfre]

I went to the Cleveland airport Thursday at 1pm to get some problems with changes on my ticket worked out. The airport was empty. I saw maybe 50 people at the ticket counters. COntinental had 5 people in line( I was #5). I didn't go through security, but it was really weird to see everything so quiet. Continental had people at all their computers and were really fast checking people in. My wait in line was under 5 minutes-probably about 3 minutes. I am guessing that this will be changing in the next week or two as things get back to normal.

 

[Wiggle]

I'm interested in BWI also. And Dulles, if anyone has flown to/from there in the past week.

My tickets for 10/5 are for Reagan National. Who knows if it'll be open by then...but I doubt it. BWI and Dulles are my alternates.

Thanks!

 

[Uncle Mikey]

We went out of Oakland, Ca. last thursday afternoon/evening. We were originally scheduled to leave on the United shuttle at 7:45 pm. We arrived at 4:45 pm expecting long lines of cars and people and found neither. They even moved us to an earlier flight. With no lines of people, the security check was a breeze. They checked your identification at the check in counter like normal. But before you get to the metal detector there is another station set up that checks your identification and makes sure you are a ticketed passenger. You then go through the metal detector which is set to be more sensitive than before. After that go wait. The two flights we were on Thursday evening were both pretty empty. Probably 35 to 40 people per flight. We came back from Phoenix on Sunday. Same story with minor variations for going through security. Flying back on Sunday (through LAX again) to Oakland the flights were fuller but still not packed out with people praying they could get on stand by. I still think people are reluctant to fly. So at this point in time many airports are not a problem to get through. Good luck with your experience.

 

[PNO4TE]

I fly out of Dulles on Friday. Delta has told me to be there 4 hours in advance, but only 2 in Orlando for the return. My scheduled flight has not been going out on a regular basis, so I plan to be at the airport as soon as I can get through traffic and get on the first plane with an empty seat that Delta is sending to Orlando! My return flight the following Wednesday is sold out... imagine that!

 

[Wiggle]

PNO4TE, would you be SO kind as to post a note when you get back about your waiting experiences?

Thanks in advance!

Wiggle

 

[Epscot]

We flew Soutwest from Nashville (BNA) to Orlando (MCO) on 9/19 and returned on 9/24. At BNA,they checked our ID at the ticket counter when we checked our luggage and again at the security checkpoint. I was able to get the boarding passes for our entire party at the gate (no ID check). Upon arrival at MCO, we had to show our luggage claim tickets to get out of the baggage claim area.

On our return, we had to show our ID at the ticket counter, at the security checkpoint (where they seemed much more thorough/serious than at BNA) and at the gate. They would not let me get the boarding passes for the entire party. The parking attendants did seem more diligent at BNA than MCO. We were told to hurry along when we were unloading at BNA and no one said anything to us either when loading or unloading at MCO.