What a nightmare this summer for the flying public~

[+ dutchmuch]

CHICAGO (CBS) — Travelers flying out of Chicago just can’t catch a break. With increasingly long lines to get through securityhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png at the city’s airports, many travelers have been missing their flights, and some ended up sleeping at O’Hare International Airport on Sunday.

 

American Airlines put out cots for fewer than 100 travelershttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png who missed their flights Sunday night due to the long lines at TSA security checkpoints.

 

Adrian Petra said he missed his flight after standing in line for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

 

The TSA has been urging passengers to get to the airport at least two hours early for domestichttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png flights, and three hours early for international flights. However, some passengers have said that is not enough time to get through security and still make their flight.

 

American Airlines said some 4,000 passengers have missed flights at O’Hare since February because of the long wait times.

[+ bigjoey]

One of the news reports said that TSA agents help provide security for the various campaign rallies. The government has pulled hundreds of agents away from airports to accomplish this.

[bigvalboy]

CHICAGO (CBS) — Travelers flying out of Chicago just can’t catch a break. With increasingly long lines to get through securityhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png at the city’s airports, many travelers have been missing their flights, and some ended up sleeping at O’Hare International Airport on Sunday.

 

American Airlines put out cots for fewer than 100 travelershttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png who missed their flights Sunday night due to the long lines at TSA security checkpoints.

 

Adrian Petra said he missed his flight after standing in line for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

 

The TSA has been urging passengers to get to the airport at least two hours early for domestichttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png flights, and three hours early for international flights. However, some passengers have said that is not enough time to get through security and still make their flight.

 

American Airlines said some 4,000 passengers have missed flights at O’Hare since February because of the long wait times.

 

This is why God made First Class...http://www.picgifs.com/smileys/smileys-and-emoticons/wink/smileys-wink-619022.gif

[+ glennnn]

I'm leading a group (16 psgrs) going out of O'Hare to Phoenix on Sunday, 5/22 on AA. I just decided to arrive at the airport 4 hours ahead. Should be enough???? These are elderly folks who simply CANNOT be stranded at ORD overnight.

[+ Keith30309]

There's an app - My TSA (iOS) that will show the wait times at the various security checkpoints at a given airport. It can be helpful in making some last minute adjustments in deciding where to be checked. Theres not allot of choice in ATL but the International concourse wait times always look shorter than the main terminal times and you can zip over to the main concourse from there.

 

ATL also has a web page, Trak-A-Line, where you can register your departure dates and times and it will send periodic wait-time updates to your mobile device.

 

If you can't afford first and are sitting in steerage then it's pretty helpful. Such is the fate of we bourgeoisie.

[+ glennnn]

Thanks, @Keith30309. This will help. You are such a good guy.

[trav05]

In the end it's stil 50/50 for blame. TSA isn't keeping up with the crowds. If it's break time, nap time, or time to go home and 200 people in line. They close the line and say go over into that huge line.

 

But the people. They stand in line for 2 hours. Finally their turn. They have to take off jacket. Dump the water. Take off the watch and jewelry. Those lace up boots take forever to get off. Why don't people be prepared to just put bag on the belt and walk thru.

Some people take 5 minutes to get ready to go thru after a long wait. I don't get it.

 

With pre check I haven't waited more than 5 minutes. It can be done.

[+ FreshFluff]

This is why God made First Class...http://www.picgifs.com/smileys/smileys-and-emoticons/wink/smileys-wink-619022.gif

 

That and Pre.

[+ glennnn]

Just checked My TSA for Chicago O'Hare and the delays were around 30 minutes. Now I'm really confused. My TSA is inaccurate? The delays have been exaggerated? Sundays are worse than Mondays? Aaaaaaaarrrrrghhhhhh!!!!!!!

[bigvalboy]

That and Pre.

 

Nothing is too good for my Fluffy...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/23/243C8C1A00000578-0-image-a-4_1419329685998.jpg

[+ DERRIK]

I'm leading a group (16 psgrs) going out of O'Hare to Phoenix on Sunday, 5/22 on AA. I just decided to arrive at the airport 4 hours ahead. Should be enough???? These are elderly folks who simply CANNOT be stranded at ORD overnight.

 

Large airports have a handicap area

 

They get scanned in - wait for wheel chair attendant - then go to TSA in the wheel chair

[+ Keith30309]

Large airports have a handicap area

 

They get scanned in - wait for wheel chair attendant - then go to TSA in the wheel chair

+1 Excellent idea!

[+ WmClarke]

Flying out of Austin, TX recently, we didn't have to remove our shoes or jackets. Did have to take off belts, though. They told us to put anything in our pockets into our bags and send it through. There were no gray tubs to put stuff in.

 

I think it was just Austin's way of dealing with the staff shortage. Line was long. But it moved fairly quickly.

[+ WmClarke]

I'm leading a group (16 psgrs) going out of O'Hare to Phoenix on Sunday, 5/22

If it was a week later, you could make it to the Chicago meetup.

[+ dutchmuch]

This is why God made First Class...http://www.picgifs.com/smileys/smileys-and-emoticons/wink/smileys-wink-619022.gif

 

Or you could hitch a ride with Jimboi and meet some of his yummy pilots!

 

 

 

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/a5698e27801ff8bbdaae8fc6ce1daf9e98ad3e32/c=96-0-1904-1356&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/07/23/1406148070000-Teen-pilot-crash-072314.jpg

[whipped guy]

That and Pre.

 

Nothing is too good for my Fluffy...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/23/243C8C1A00000578-0-image-a-4_1419329685998.jpg

 

Well I'm glad someone is having luck with Pre!

 

Two flights ago the Pre line was short, but they then merged it with a regular line so we had to do all the nonsense that I didn't expect to do.

 

The last flight out all was going fine, but when I walked through the metal detector even though it did not ring I was told that I was selected at random for the full treatment!!

 

WTF!!! I could see if I had was wearing leather with metal rivets on it but no! I always dress appropriately with nothing in my pockets etc.

 

I checked the TSA website and it does say that there is no guarantee that you will actually get the Pre experience... so as the saying goes "your mileage may vary" when trying to make it through airport. Not to mention that "past performance is no guarantee of future results"!!

 

For some reason even when I manage to get through in an uneventful manner I often get the pat down. When in Key. West I always consider it as a compliment.

[+ glennnn]

Thanks everyone. I've decided to just rent a private jet. I can use the miles on my American Express card. Zoom! Fuck the TSA and the blimp they floated in on!

[+ FreshFluff]

Nothing is too good for my Fluffy...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/23/243C8C1A00000578-0-image-a-4_1419329685998.jpg

 

Sorry I'm late, BVB. Hope you and the pilot didn't wait too long.

[+ FreshFluff]

@whipped guy It really depends on the airport. At LAX, they sometimes make Pre people and even priority passengers wait in the main line.

 

I'm hitching a ride on Glenn's jet.

[Epigonos]

Here is a relatively “simple” solution. Apply through the U.S. Immigration Service for membership in the Global Entry Program. This program was initiated about ten years ago to felicitate the reentry into the United States of frequent international U.S. travelers. After filling out a detailed application and submitting it along with a check for $100 (?) the agency does a background check on each applicant. If accepted the applicant sets up an appointment with the Immigration Service at designated airports and at that time has his/her finger prints and photograph taken. When one is accepted into the program all one needs to do upon returning to the U.S. from overseas is approach a kiosk that resembles an ATM insert ones passport, answer a couple of questions and out pops a slip of paper that is presented to the Immigration Officer when leaving the arrival lounge.

 

Now how does this apply to those departing on international and nation flights within the U.S. you ask? It “only” took the TSA about seven or eight years to figure out that Global Entry participants are pre-checked individuals who are deemed safe for near automatic reentry into the U.S. by the Immigration Service. Thus the TSA is now using the Immigration Service’s information. At all major U.S. airports the TSA has established a special line posted as only for Global Entry members. That line is usually VERY short and members are frequently not asked to remove shoes.

 

One caution is that if you choose to apply for this program do so ONLY at the Global Entry site that ends in .gov. A number of rip-off sites have established themselves and charge for “expediting” ones application - total rip-off and totally unnecessary.

[whipped guy]

Thanks everyone. I've decided to just rent a private jet. I can use the miles on my American Express card. Zoom! Fuck the TSA and the blimp they floated in on!

The closest that I ever came to a private jet was this past November. I was flying from Fort Meyers to Key West. When I approached the ticket counter the young lady behind the desk said, "When I saw you walking into the terminal I knew that you were a Key West person." She then continued, " You'll be happy to know that there are only two of you on the flight, and you looked like you would be one of them." Of course when the other guy eventually showed up he really looked like a Key West person as he had tattoos all over his arms!

 

At any rate, when we got on the plane, which normally would carry about 40 passengers, we were told to sit in specific seats toward the rear for the safety and balance of the aircraft. No bag of peanuts, but each of us did get a bottle of water. I would think that the real private jet experience is a tad better.

[+ glennnn]

We're you at least seated together for some flirting.... Or more. What an opportunity to join the Mile High Club!

[rvwnsd]

I think the airlines should stop charging for checked luggage and start charging for carry-on bags. You want to hold up the line with your wheeled suitcase? That will be $100.00 please.

[seaboy4hire]

They are preparing us for the wait in the bread lines. Honestly just about anything the gov touches turns to shit. The private screeners do it better and faster. Tsa is an over bloated sow that needs to be sent to the butcher.

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

Ps Fuck the US gov!

[Nvr2Thick]

They are preparing us for the wait in the bread lines. Honestly just about anything the gov touches turns to shit. The private screeners do it better and faster. Tsa is an over bloated sow that needs to be sent to the butcher.

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

Ps Fuck the US gov!

 

TSA is staffed by the inexperienced. Many of their employees don't last six months -- not enough time to be trained and to develop useful experience.

 

I've been to five airports in the past year, each with differing requirements for shoes, belts, and electronics. Nothing is consistent from airport to airport.

 

At my hometown airport:

 

• There are five lines: "TSA Pre", "experienced travelers", "traveling alone", and two lines for "groups/families". The last four all collapse to the same point.
  
• They don't understand basic queuing. I stood in one line and bumped into a friend who was next to me in the adjacent line. The four non-Pre lines were serviced by three TSA guys to check boarding passes and ID's, and they were all supposed to call for next in line. My line moved much faster than my friend's. We were about 30 people deep when we met. Fifteen minutes later I had made it past the ID check and through the collapsing queues to the body / baggage scanners and he was still about 10 deep waiting for ID check. The ID check guys kept ignoring my friend's line, so it moved at about 1/5 the speed of the others.
  
• The lines collapse into one line, and then break out into four body / baggage scanner stations. Never take the scanner station on the far end. They keep feeding the military and handicapped into that line, with no regard for the flyers committed to that line. Once I was traveling with a friend, and as he put his shoes and bags on the baggage scanner conveyor they stopped me and let about 20 soldiers in front of me. When the line drained down to 3 soldiers they let about 30 more in. Meanwhile, people who were fifteen minutes behind me are passing through the other scanner stations. When I and the folks behind me tried to switch to another station TSA yelled at us.
  
• Last time I went through security they had two ID check podiums closed, but they had a TSA guy wading through the long line into the terminal asking to see everybody's boarding pass. He was looking for TSA Pre flyers to send them to the underused TSA Pre line. He didn't find anyone, because if you've gone to the trouble of signing up for Pre you know how it works. This guy kept wading through the same line. He checked my boarding pass four times in fifty minutes, and wouldn't let me tell him that he'd already done so; he had to see it every time.
  
• When I made it past ID check there was a TSA guy at the point where the lines collapse. He was running an iPad app that seemed to randomly assign folks to a left line or a right line. I got sent down the left line to a body / baggage scanner, and pulled off my belt and shoes and started pulling laptops and liquids. A TSA guy yelled at me because I didn't need to do that at the "Pre" station. Apparently the iPad guy was randomly selecting people to go into Pre, but there was no way of knowing that's what he was doing.
  
• So I jam my shoes back on and get my belt half threaded through my pants. I put my bags on the conveyor and get into the short Pre line. When my turn comes up to breeze through the scanner there's another TSA guy with an iPad. Apparently they randomly select some Pre flyers for screening. They lead me two lines away from my luggage, have me pull off my belt, shoes, keys, phone, etc. and go through that body scanner. Then I have to pick up belt, shoes and stuff at one conveyor and fight my way across two lines (with TSA glaring at me) to get back to the conveyor with bags. In short, as a regular flyer I got randomly upgraded to Pre, but then as a Pre I got randomly downgraded for regular screening.
  

 

At the airport in my brother's city:

 

• They randomly yell at you for leaving cell phones powered on in your scanned carry-on bag. I've never seen this required in any other airport.
  
• They randomly yell at you for not pulling out a GameBoy or PSP as if it were a laptop or tablet. I've never seen this required in any other airport.
  
• Sometimes they call you out for leaving a protective snap-on cover on your tablet. I watched a woman struggle with hers for ten minutes while everyone else in line tried to move past her with their carry-on bags and bins for the scanner..
  
• They can't ever stay on top of recycling the gray bins for shoes and coats. A few flyers have to get yelled at for not putting shoes in bins before they correct the problem. If, however, you point out that there are no bins be prepared for attitude.
  
• One time I watched as they ran out of bins at the intake side of the line just as I was making it through the scanners. One TSA guy started dumping shoes, belts, purses, coats, laptops out of the bins as they came out of the bag scanner and passing those bins back to the front of the line. He didn't start with the large piles of emptied bins at the far end of the conveyor.
  
• One day there was a nasty TSA lady who called every untucked, heavy shirt a "coat". This is northern NY state, where 40% of the guys wear flannel shirts. Deep through the maze we could hear her shouting at people to remove their "coats", and periodically to squash occasional backtalk with, "I know what a shirt is; that's a coat, Honey." One guy wasn't wearing a t-shirt or undershirt under his flannel shirt. He shrugged and tried to go through bare-chested. She yelled at him, "What the hell is wrong with you not wearing a shirt under your coat. Put your damn coat back on. This is an airport not your bathroom, Honey" His shirt, however, was now in a bin, passing through the bag scanner.
  

It's not just the absurdity and inconvenience; it's that the stupidity of the practices and the people can't possibly lead to heightened security.