On Sunday, February 3, 2002, at 01:35 PM, Greg Newbold wrote: > I flew 90K paid miles last year before 9-11 and haven't flown > a mile since. I assure you I am only mildly concerned with terrorism, > (I'm > still more conccerned about being killed in a car crash on the way to > the > airport), but will not stand in a line for hours for any reason. In the limited traveling I've done since 9/11 (and I don't fly anywhere near 90k miles a year), the longest line I've had to deal with was at John Wayne Airport in Orange County (SNA), and that was actually my mother who was in that line. Quick recap of what I've done: November 22, 2001 (Thanksgiving Day): Flew San Diego-San Francisco-Medford on United - Long line for the ticket counters to check in, but no line to check bag curbside or use the self check in machines. I've since noticed that some of the United self-check in machines appear to be set up to allow you to check bags as well though I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. I'm normally not a fan of electronic tickets, but when I'm flying United out of San Diego, or helping others to, I encourage them to get e-tickets in order to keep this option available. Security line looked long but took about 15 minutes, similar to other trips since. November 24, 2001: Flew Medford-San Francisco-San Diego on United - Check in took a long time. Medford is a small station, and they looked understaffed. Line was not properly organized; was really two lines that merged near where the ropes actually began. Security was easy though. Weather was bad that day; raining in Medford and snowing in other parts of the Rouge Valley. December 14, 2001: Flew San Diego-Honolulu on Hawaiian - Check in line was a typical length but moved relatively quickly. Security took about 18 minutes; the Northwest agent who checked us in actually suggested that my brother and I grab a bite to eat at the food court before going through since there were a couple of flights leaving pretty soon and before ours; thus the long line. But we went ahead and waited and it wasn't bad at all. January 5, 2002: Flew Honolulu-San Diego on Hawaiian - Not really fair to consider check in time since we were significantly early. Security again no more than 15 minutes. January 18, 2002: My mother flew San Diego-San Francisco on United - No line for check in with an agent (oddly enough, there was a line for Premier/1K/First Class, etc, but not for regular check in). We had lunch and browsed a gift shop, and when my mother went through there was no line to speak of at security either. This was the day that was supposed to be terrible, with the positive checked bag match requirement beginning that day. January 22, 2002: My mother flew Orange County-Honolulu on Aloha - Short line for check in. Line for security was very long, but since I had to get back to San Diego, I don't know how long it really took. For the most part, I haven't found waiting in lines to be much of a problem. And the biggest problem with security agents was when my mother flew back to San Diego from San Francisco on January 20. She said the screener in SFO was trying to ask her to do something, but his English was so bad that she and other passengers could barely understand what he was trying to say. -- David Mueller / SAN kawika42@mac.com http://www.quanterium.com