Hacker News Reader

Comment by gnaffle | Hacker News Reader

How many airports make you spend an hour or two going through security? When flying, I usually spend an hour or two in total at the airport, but that includes check-in, security, waiting for and boarding plane, then de-planing and sometimes waiting for luggage. Not to mention the transport time to and from the airports. Security and safety is a pretty insignificant part of that time, and waiting in line at the airport the price you pay for getting cheap airfares.

You can buy yourself out of this miserable experience by renting a plane. Of course, you might still get a security briefing by the pilot, as part of a checklist that he's already gone through hundreds of times while wasting precious time.

View on HN

Israel.

No, really. Especially iff

- you are leaving the country (...)

- you are a foreigner (that is: Everything but a citizen)

Everybody around me (including the airport) tells me to arrive ~2.5 (some say 2. Some 3) hours early. The procedure consists of

1. waiting in line forever, waiting for the luggage to be scanned

2. a passport check in that line, asking you questions about where you're from, where you stayed, what you did in Israel and if you happen to carry weapons or presents that might be bombs. If they are inclined to waste some time they are going to ask you for more: Do you know people in Israel? What are their names? Where do _those_ live? What's your connection ... it's something between a 3-4 questions interview and a nice interrogation

3. Your luggage was scanned. Someone is going to tell you to go to that place over there and unpack it. If it's your birthday or Fortuna is with you: Go to step 5.

4. Some guy/girl is ripping apart your luggage. Some are gentler, some really completely mess everything up.

5. The ticket counter! Get your ticket..

6. Wait in line before the security check of you and your carry-on stuff, metal detector, shoe removal station. If you don't have a laptop with you, go to 8

7. Your laptop is suspicious. You have to wake it up from suspend. Close it again. They x-ray it three times. They need to take it to another room, for a special treatment. After 30min they return, the laptop is not suspended anymore. It's off. You are supposed to prove (again) that it's a laptop and not a weapon of mass destruction. Powering it on, booting, logging in is not enough. 'Open a file!'. If you open a picture or a random text file in Notepad, you're good to go.

8. Proceed to the gate, please. You are late for your flight. Remember that for next time and get to the airport earlier, stupid.

Yes, it's that bad. Nothing is invented here, all experienced by yours truely. Not all steps are that bad all the time, but .. I wouldn't bet my ticket on having a lucky day..

Imho this is better then

- Taking off shoes

- Going through scanner-of-the-day

- Can't take any liquids on the plane.

And same procedure applies also to Israelis as well not only to visitors.

Hmm.. Hope you didn't take offense with what I wrote. I see no personal insult anywhere in that text and certainly didn't intend any. That said:

- I had to remove my shoes at the Ben Gurion airport. Granted, only once so far

- Agreed (scanner)

- Braindead liquid rules still apply (maybe softened vs. the US? I cannot judge that)

And while Israelis have to do the same thing: If I travel with a coworker (we usually arrive separately) they pass all tests right away and have a couple of shortcuts (especially concerning passport control, inbound, for example). My experience with tourists, visitors and my own trips says that - well - foreigners start on the 'Might be a terrorist' scale at 3 out of 10, just because.

No offense.

>- Braindead liquid rules still apply (maybe softened vs. the US? I cannot judge that)

I guess that it might apply more then usually when you fly to US. Flies to Europe/within Israel ok. You can buy whatever you want after security check and bring it with you.

Passport control shortcut, you probably mean electronic system. There is one like this in US for US citizens that I can't use :(

And yes, foreigners start with "Might be..." but usually it never goes beyond questions. "Luggage scan pass" Israeli might get only if they (scanners) are too loaded. In case line is short everybody goes through it. And Israelis can move to "might be" quickly in case they give "bad" answer. I once couldn't answer how old I am (I never know) and was questioned for 40minutes.

Two hours total? I wish I could do as well.

When I fly (as infrequently as possible), I have to budget at least 5.5 hours from my front door to boarding the plane. Here's my time budget based on 10 years of flying out of New York City from Newark (and occasionally JFK)

  |-----------+----------------------------|
  | Time (hr) | Activity                   |
  |-----------+----------------------------|
  |       1   | Drive to airport           |
  |       0.5 | Find parking               |
  |       0.5 | Shuttle to Terminal        |
  |-----------+----------------------------|
  |       2   | ** Sub total **            |
  |-----------+----------------------------|
  |       1   | Check luggage              |
  |       1.5 | Security                   |
  |       0.5 | To gate                    |
  |       0.5 | Wait at Gate               |
  |-----------+----------------------------|
  |       3.5 | ** Sub total **            |
  |-----------+----------------------------|
  |       5.5 | ** Total **                |
  |-----------+----------------------------|

Hmm. Strange to get downvoted for this. What about my post made you think it was unworthy or inappropriate to the discussion?

I agree that security these days is by far overkill, and even agree with many of the deadweight statistics in this thread. But 5.5 hours is highly abnormal. I fly fast, I generally leave my house about an hour before my flight. I'm lucky enough to be a short 10 minute drive from my airport. Security usually takes me around 5-10 minutes at SJC, and 10-15 minutes at SFO. I can fit two weeks of clothing (fresh shirts for every day, two pairs of jeans, fresh underwear and socks for every day, a jacket and a blazer) as well as all my office supplies and toiletries into carryon baggage, so I never check bags. All in all it's usually 45 minutes from my front door til I step on the plane. It's not hard to make flying fast, it just takes dexterity with the security. The TSA themselves recommend showing up 90 minutes to 2 hours before your flight, but it's very doable to show up 30 minutes prior. I fly about once a month for business, and I've yet to miss a flight.

We just call a car service since we're close to a couple of airports; while proximity and being dropped at the terminal save time, even if all goes well we're still talking at least two hours.

I didn't down vote you, but I fly out of JFK too. For an international flight, I hop in a black car from manhattan 3 hours before the flight. For a domestic, I leave my apartment 2.5 hrs before the flight. Others may have downvoted because they thought you were exaggerating.

> What about my post made you think it was unworthy or inappropriate to the discussion?

The numbers are high enough that some people (not me) may be downvoting you because they think you're exaggerating.

Maybe I'm lucky not dealing with flying out of new york, but I usually leave about 2hr before boarding. I expect steps to take about:

    to airport: 45min (subway, subway, shuttle)
    check luggage: 15min (usually omitted)
    security: 15min
    to gate: 15min
    wait: 30min

Individual steps can take longer, but they've not taken long enough to make me miss my flight. I just have less waiting at the end.

I guess I've been lucky with airports. What do you do for 1,5 hours in security? Standing in line, or is it the security check that takes so much time?

JFK/EWK and SFO.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com