I didn't see a thread about that attempted attack on 12/25/09; apologies if this is posted elsewhere.

I'm visiting my family down in Charlotte, but my flight back home is out of Raleigh on Tuesday morning. I've heard all sorts of stuff about how early we need to be at the airport now, but I was hoping someone on here might have flown (or will fly before 12/29) and might give me some insight about the security delays in RDU.

thanks TWW

12/27/2009 8:22:48 PM

just follow the guidelines of going two hours in advance. that should give you more than enough time to make it through any security.

12/27/2009 8:27:46 PM

i think the extra time is more specifically for flights originating outside of the US flying into the US. that doesn't mean their won't be delays at RDU but you probably don't need to arrive more than an hour and a half ahead of your flight unless you're checking bags, then go 2 hours

12/27/2009 8:50:06 PM

seems like the most logical thing to do would be to call the airport...

12/27/2009 8:51:09 PM

http://www.gadling.com/2009/12/26/breaking-news-possible-new-tsa-rules-in-effect-after-terror-att/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fgadling+%28Gadling%29&utm_content=Netvibes

ive been trying to find info on tsa changes since im due to spend all day wed flying and would be really nice to be prepared

as far as i can tell, the limitations are on US bound flights. deems domestic flights are about the same

not sure if the one hour rule* is in effect for all flights... if so i am going to be fucking pissed (and i wont be the only one)

*the one hour rule: right now its a rumor but they're saying that for the final hour of the flight no passenger will be allowed to
-- get out of their seat (including going to the bathroom)
--access their carry on luggage
--have anything in their lap (this means books, magazines, blankets etc)

if this is true, im going to have to nyquil myself because there is no way i can just sit there staring into space for an hour on a plane...

also, here is a forum i frequent

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security-222/

there are some extremely frequent flyers on there as well as airport & tsa employees, i am ab to dig through info on there and im sure it'll be more helpful

[Edited on December 27, 2009 at 9:10 PM. Reason : sdkfj]

12/27/2009 9:09:00 PM

^ whoa that seems to be a little outrageous. You cant even read? This is just a stupid thoughtless reactions to the situation.

12/27/2009 9:10:57 PM

i know, complete overreaction

i am very comfortable with the notion that people will fucking roll up on someone acting crazy on a flight more than ever before (since 9/11). that makes me feel more safe than someone not being able to read a book the last hour of the flight.

because you know there isnt a jury in this country that'll throw the book at someone going after another passenger acting crazy on a plane.

whatever happened to US marshals being on every flight? i have no idea where that stands these days

and terrorists are getting what they want, one person is causing chaos for millions. now the nigerians are in on. first it was spam and now its planes, fuck!

12/27/2009 9:20:19 PM

http://www.elliott.org/blog/full-text-of-sd-1544-09-06-authorizing-pat-downs-physical-inspection/


Note that the expiration date for this directive is 12/30 2am.

12/27/2009 9:24:14 PM

i have not come across that yet! thats semi good news

i am flying out of RDU at 6am on wed back to IAH

then i have to get my luggage and check back in for my flight to HNL

i have an hour and a half window from touch down to take off the make this happen. i AM elite with continental (which i am flying for both trips) so my luggage will be first out on the carousel and i can skip baggage check, security and boarding lines (or at least skip the general population and stand in line with elite people)

i really hope this doesn't fuck my day on wed... oh well, better stop at walgreens and buy some sedatives just in case!!

12/27/2009 9:29:30 PM

Good news on paper. We know how great the airlines do with communication, policy updates, and timely changes.

12/27/2009 9:30:45 PM

hmm im considering sending a flat rate USPS box back to houston with all the crap i won't need in hawaii. it'll allow me to put more random shit into my checked bag and make my carry on lighter.

especially that 1000+ page book i've been reading, i'd prefer to rid myself of that monstrosity and free up a square foot of luggage space

12/27/2009 10:55:11 PM

Flew to Colorado with my family and some others, a rather large group of people. I'm flying back on 12/30 solo and everyone else is flying back on 1/4. My brother-in-law offered to take my checked bag back with everyone else so I could skip a bit of the security run around. I'm still debating it. Leaving the bag with him would leave me
a) travelling alone
b) travelling with a one way ticket
c) travelling with no checked luggage

The question is: will I breeze through security or be felt up by numerous federal employees on the way home?

12/28/2009 12:51:04 AM

^The answer is inversely proportional to how white you are.

12/28/2009 12:52:10 AM

Its not really a one way ticket if its a return flight.

Technically I guess all flights are "one way"

12/28/2009 12:58:31 AM

there is no indication, to my knowledge, on your boarding pass for a checked bag so i dont see how the tsa would know if you, personally, checked a bag.

however, one way tickets do have an indication and i've been frisked flying out of anaheim which is one of the smallest airports ive ever been in. it was no problem but holy shit they made a big deal lol

12/28/2009 12:59:16 AM

I just remember seeing Michael Caine on Conan a while back talking about getting hell when he traveled the same way. Sadly, I'm probably much more sketchy than Michael Caine.

[Edited on December 28, 2009 at 1:08 AM. Reason : He's Alfred, for fuck's sake]

12/28/2009 1:08:38 AM

when you buy the ticket you either buy a round trip or you buy one way.

kayak maybe you should use a travel agent

12/28/2009 1:37:54 AM

i flew back to DCA out of RDU yesterday afternoon and it took me about 10 minutes to get to my gate from being dropped off.

12/28/2009 9:15:43 AM

I dropped a friend off at the airport this morning just over an hour before his flight back to NYC. He had no problems with security or "new rules" while on the plane.

12/28/2009 9:55:22 AM

Quote :

"This is just a stupid thoughtless reactions to the situation."

Pretty much any time someone says we need to "do something" the result is a stupid thoughtless reaction.


My brother flew from Tampa to DC yesterday and said that everyone got patted down.

12/28/2009 9:56:39 AM

In an airport right now getting ready to fly into RDU and I got through security faster than normal....obviously it is not RDU but I don't think it will cause too many delays if you are not traveling internationally.

12/28/2009 10:03:14 AM

Checked baggage is nothing. Right now theyd rather you check it than carry it on. You have a ton, its gonna all get scanned. Then again I got picked for a random security check last year, only delayed me 10 minutes. This was a domestic flight and therefore no paperwork checking. International flights, they check all your paperwork which takes forever.

12/28/2009 11:01:17 AM

WSJ blog about the whole thing: http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2009/12/28/tsa-measures-after-pants-bomber-defy-logic/

Quote :

"Perhaps we should prevent passengers from sitting in window seats, because the man who attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 sat in a window seat. Or at least keep people from sitting in window seats one hour before landing. That silly notion seems to make as much sense as some of the “security” steps taken in response to the Christmas Day terrorism attempt. We all want air travel to be safe, no doubt. To ensure that, we need rules that are smart and effective. The Transportation Security Administration may be trying to reassure the public that it is on the job and thwarting terrorists, but turning off the route-tracking maps on airplanes and keeping people buckled up without blankets just seems ridiculous to most frequent fliers."

12/28/2009 11:56:25 AM

for anyone who is checking luggage and doesn't want the tsa rummaging through it, there are a few things that can make your bag look suspicious

obviously the more organized your bag is, the easier it is for them to see whats in there

stacks of books or magazine are impossible to see through and your bag will likely be opened to confirm what the item is

lots of bar soap is also hard to see through

if you do have anything that you know will look sketchy on the screen, you should pack it on top so when they open your bag its right there and they don't have to dig around to figure out what it is

personally, i'd like my bag to get through screening as quickly as possible so no one has to open it up and it gets to my plane as soon as possible. i also dont want someone to go through my bag and see something they could easily steal and swipe it

12/28/2009 12:30:44 PM

like your astroglide?

12/28/2009 12:53:58 PM

i have a Sigg bottle that i keep in my carry-on at all times for filling up with water beyond security, etc

i flew out of DCA to RDU last thursday AM, and everything went through security just fine

flying home yesterday afternoon the security guys at RDU yanked my bag and fucking grilled me about the bottle. im like, "guys, it's fucking empty..." they said the xray machine they had couldnt see through it. apparently they dont have that problem at DCA

[Edited on December 28, 2009 at 1:25 PM. Reason : .]

12/28/2009 1:24:50 PM

Quote :

""Perhaps we should prevent passengers from sitting in window seats, because the man who attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 sat in a window seat. Or at least keep people from sitting in window seats one hour before landing. That silly notion seems to make as much sense as some of the “security” steps taken in response to the Christmas Day terrorism attempt. We all want air travel to be safe, no doubt. To ensure that, we need rules that are smart and effective. The Transportation Security Administration may be trying to reassure the public that it is on the job and thwarting terrorists, but turning off the route-tracking maps on airplanes and keeping people buckled up without blankets just seems ridiculous to most frequent fliers." "

There’s no way to make flying both pleasant AND secure. We either accept cursory measures at keeping obvious terrorists out at the cost of true safety, or we get draconian about it, maybe quadruple the security staff/budget (and probably ticket costs) and scrutinize every passenger rigorously.

MILLIONS of people fly every day, there’s no good way to really check all of them, and the terrorists know this.

[Edited on December 28, 2009 at 1:31 PM. Reason : ]

12/28/2009 1:31:04 PM

I took a transatlantic flight yesterday/today and I did not notice any differences in the security process. I did not even arrive to RDU two hours before my flight and it was not a problem.

12/28/2009 1:51:11 PM

i think they should just tranquilize all passengers once they're on board then send us all out on the baggage claim with our luggage where our loved ones pick us up and wake us up!

12/28/2009 2:34:56 PM

i think we should just travel nekkid.

12/28/2009 3:50:19 PM

This is what happens when you put a lawyer in charge of Dept of Homeland Security

12/28/2009 5:45:32 PM

I'm flying out of RDU to BNA on 12/30. If that 1 hour rumor is in effect that means I have 20 minutes to watch a TV episode and then stare off into space for the remainder. Sweet.

That said, any trustworthy people on here willing to let me park at their dwelling and possibly accept some bones for a ride to the airport?

12/28/2009 5:49:28 PM

What time's your flight and where do you live? I work very close to the airport.

12/28/2009 5:50:06 PM

why would you not just cab it?

12/28/2009 5:54:54 PM

Flight is 12/30 @ 16:15. I'd be driving from Greenville with a couple buddies, hence trying to avoid RDU parking fees.

Have a couple other friends and a cousin getting back to me tomorrow with their plans, but I'm not sure if they will pan out. Plus at least two are apt. complexes with predatory towing and possibly sketchy breakins.

Return 1/4 @ 11am

^yeah cab is no problem if I can secure a sweet parking spot in a nice neighborhood for a couple of days.

[Edited on December 28, 2009 at 5:57 PM. Reason : .]

12/28/2009 5:56:33 PM

I flew from RDU to pensacola this morning. I'd say it took an extra 20 minutes to get through security. They were breaking up all the lines and only letting a few people go at a time. It didn't help that Airtran's systems were down, but that is a different story.

[Edited on December 29, 2009 at 11:00 PM. Reason : ess]

12/29/2009 10:59:24 PM

terrorism on flights is almost as old as commercial airlines. What makes this past decade different? George W. Bush setting the ground work.

I'll be flying to Cairo, Egypt in about a weeks time...not looking forward to it but at least i only have 1 connection and its on Egypt Air.

[Edited on December 29, 2009 at 11:06 PM. Reason : .]

12/29/2009 11:05:12 PM

^^ Every time I've flown Airtrain I've regretted it.

12/29/2009 11:28:00 PM

Got there about 1.5 hours early and walked immediately through security.

12/30/2009 7:59:17 PM

If these laws pass through, I'm going to go blow a plane up to spite them.

1/1/2010 5:36:40 PM

Quote :

"I'll be flying to Cairo, Egypt in about a weeks time"

going out of the country isn't bad...coming back in is a bitch. prepare to be cavity searched before boarding the flight back into the US

1/1/2010 6:05:31 PM