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Unread 12-04-2002, 11:51
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Joe Ross Joe Ross is offline
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I live across the country from where I go to college, so I've flown several times, both before and after 9/11, both through large airports (LAX, Dallas/Ft Worth, Chicago) and medium size (Rochester). My sister has also flown through Long Beach (small) and JFK. The following are the results of her and my experiences, which should be taken with a grain of salt, but are a good indication of what you might encounter.

When they say 1 carry on and 1 "personal item", they really mean 1 item that can go in the over head bin, and one that will easily fit under the seat in front of you.

The smaller airports are much more picky in screening. The big ones have to get a whole lot more people through, and don't have as much time to be thorough on everyone. Don't expect this though, because I have been carefully searched at LAX, although only once, as compared to every time at Rochester.

I travel with a laptop and palm pilot. Before 9/11, I just had to send the laptop through the x-ray machine, still in the case. I was allowed to pass the palm pilot around the metal detector, as long as I turned it on to show them that it worked. Since then, they make me remove the laptop from the carrying case and x-ray it seperately. I also have to x-ray the palm pilot. I have not had them ask me to turn either on since 9/11.

If you are flying in a group or out of a large airport, you definetly need to allow more time then if you are flying alone out of a smaller airport. 2 hours is the suggested time, but I've often used less at Rochester, although all 2 hours are often needed at a larger airport.

I've noticed that people using passports as ID are much more likely to be picked for the "random" screening, then people using a drivers license.

They do random checks on the checked luggage, but are much less stringent. I did get pulled aside once and have to explain something that was in one of my bags, but it was at the destination.

I hope this answers some of the questions, at least