report - United at Newark airport (& a suggestion)

[cigar95]

((Perhaps we could create a separate board for reports on the conditions at particular terminals in airports. There's going to be a lot of this for the forseeable future, and it could overwhelm this board when there are so many transportation topics out there. Just a thought.))

Anyway - last Sunday I flew United Airlines out of Newark. (Going to Los Angeles, not MCO.) Apparently the airport website suggests arriving *three* hours early, but this isn't mentioned anywhere else I've seen. Since we were not checking bags, two hours seemed like more than enough.

Well, terminal A is currently set up so that *everyone* needs to go through the main check-in line. Seems unnecessary, but that's the system they're using. Be warned!

Also, the security checkpoint moved very slowly - eventually, for flights approaching their departure time, they would pull everyone out of the line for that flight and stop the rest of the line. (But I'm not suggesting anyone cheat and exploit this "front of the line" privilege!)

Bottom line - some airports, like LAX, are functioning quite smoothly. Newark, at least this particular terminal, is still having a good amount of trouble.

 

[ducklite]

Terminal A is the International terminal, which is likely why it is also slow. I don't know for sure that this is the reason, but logically it makes sense.

Anne

 

[cigar95]

Each group of gates in that terminal seemed to have its own security checkpoint. Ours included gates 10-18, and that was the slow one.
It appeared that the section next door, with 20-28, was closed (the Disney syndrome?). Didn't see the 30-39 section. So it's a limited report, but I think all the domestic United flights out of EWR go through that particular section.

 

[jel0511]

Actually Terminal B is the international terminal out of Neward. Terminal A is used for most domestic flights not flown by northwest and continental, they use Terminal C, which is also primarily domestic departures. I believe that is a new rule not to let anyone without a boarding pass past security, hence why you have to check in at the main terminal and not at the gate. We're flying out on Continental on 12/25 and have been told by the airline that we need to be at the airport about 1 1/2 hours before. We'll see... I'm going to call and confirm before we leave.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Newark has never been the most organized of airports. A friend of mine returned from Orlando to Newark. She said the lines to get through security were so thick that she couldn't get through to get to her luggage! There were so many people packed into the area (terminal C) that those who were coming from the gates couldn't get through! Yikes!

 

[CookieGVB]

Actually, there IS a Traveling During the Crisis Board.

Is that what you meant?

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by jel0511
Actually Terminal B is the international terminal out of Neward. Terminal A is used for most domestic flights not flown by northwest and continental, they use Terminal C, which is also primarily domestic departures. I believe that is a new rule not to let anyone without a boarding pass past security, hence why you have to check in at the main terminal and not at the gate. We're flying out on Continental on 12/25 and have been told by the airline that we need to be at the airport about 1 1/2 hours before. We'll see... I'm going to call and confirm before we leave.

Hmm..I've flown international out of A on American the past two times.

Anne

 

[cigar95]

CookieGVB, I'd never noticed that new board. It looks like it's mostly a "sharing your feelings" board at the moment. Perhaps if we could get some sort of organized encouragement to get people to post airport reports with some sort of a standardized subject line, that board would be a good place for them.

So let me be the first - for those flying, let's try putting up airport reports on the "Traveling During the Crisis" board with a subject line that looks like:

** AIRPORT REPORT - United - Newark - 10/28/01 **

Anyone else think this would be a good idea? We could eventually create a list of airports and airlines that folks could use as a reference until things relax a bit.