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Comment by anonymousDan | Hacker News Reader

The airport security in most of the American airports I've seen in the last few years is just a complete shambles in terms of efficiency. It takes forever in comparison to most of the busy European airports I've been through. And I doubt the security is any better. For example, London Gatwick has a really fast system where they have a set of packing bays before you get to the scanners/pat downs. This massively reduces delays caused by someone in the queue ahead of you faffing around putting their stuff into trays. It's like no-one is even bothering to think about that kind of stuff in American airports. Or maybe it's just for international travellers?

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the key here is that more than one person is filling their tray at a time. so if one person is taking their time, other people can jump past them. obviously it helps to have motivated and efficient operators, but in my experience, it's almost always some dithering idiot that holds things up. as as we all know, serial processing of a queue is not efficient when you end up waiting on IO :)

I fly frequently through a limited set of airports.

I rarely see the millimeter scanner at less than max throughput.

That said I regularly do what I can to slow things down, and sometimes take the pat down in favor of hassling the staff.

Attrition is damned right. The TSA scam is awful, and I hope we can get rid of it soon.

My personal experience is just the opposite. I always see the nudie scanners languishing for 30 seconds or more between people. The delay seems to be the baggage x-ray.

If that's true, then some other things fit neatly into place. The airline escalation of baggage check fees has driven people to carrying more stuff. That, in turn, means that more stuff needs to go through the x-ray conveyor, which slows down that process.

To be fair, some people were only carrying more things because they didn't want their stuff stolen out of their checked baggage, or for it to be otherwise lost in transit.

Stealing stuff right out of the security checkpoint ought to make those folks think twice, right?

I made the switch to carry-on only last year for all my travel. Too much waiting around at baggage claim, too much risk of luggage being lost (especially with transfers), etc. Checked baggage fees weren't the motivator, as most carriers allow one piece for free and I've never needed more than that.

With cameras, laptops, and other expensive items, I have to carry on at least one bag regardless. Now, it's one or two bags (roller luggage, plus laptop case, usually).

Oh come on that's absurd. I fly weekly across the EU and few are very good and always more inconsistent than most USA airports. I'd kill for precheck in the UK.

Domestic travelers too. Congress wouldn't care as much if newspapers weren't reporting record wait times ahead of the summer travel months. It's a mess. And they'll pretend they've done something by firing this guy and not allocating any more funds (Or let airports charge more..) Its not going to be free.

Some airports used to have an Expert/Casual/Family lane distinction but I haven't seen that in years

LAX and has a family lane. I think SFO does, although I last flew through there 4-5 years ago, so it might have changed.

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