Have you started arriving at the airport gate early? Like, way early? Mary Vogel has. For her upcoming flight from Chicago to Paris, she’ll get to the terminal more than three hours before her scheduled departure.
In our hurry to catch the plane — or maybe just to get through our security screening — travelers leave so much behind. Here’s how to protect your valuables when you’re being screened.
For many air travelers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening is the most dreaded part of the journey.
It happened to Andy Lundberg when he was flying recently from Kansas City to Baltimore on Southwest Airlines. A Transportation Security Administration screener pointed him to the PreCheck line, where he waited behind a dozen other frequent travelers with the agency’s trusted traveler designation.
TSA agents are getting ruder, and it’s time to do something about it. So say an increasing number of air travelers, citing their own experiences of being harassed and harangued by the screeners who are supposed to be helping them.
Between passports, passport cards, mobile passports and a constellation of trusted-traveler programs such as Global Entry, Sentri and Nexus, international travelers have a lot to choose from this summer. Chances are, there’s a program that will suit your itinerary and help you avoid long lines when you come home.
When Barbara Leary went through the full-body scanner at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport recently, her hip replacements set off the alarm. She was directed to another line, where she underwent a physical search by a Transportation Security Administration agent.
Want to start an argument? Tell your travel companion you won’t be arriving two hours before your flight. Go on, try it. I’ll be right here.
If you’re already bracing for a long airport security line during the spring break travel season, then you must remember last year.
You do, don’t you? That’s when Transportation Security Administration screening wait times doubled under the weight of tighter security and swelling crowds. On just one day in mid-March, 6,800 American Airlines customers reportedly missed their flights, thanks to the lengthy TSA lines.
Beth Graham’s daughter’s luggage is pilfered, but it’s not clear who is responsible — the TSA or her airline.
