EWR security setup is a nightmare!

Last week, the agent tried to get me to go in the TSAPre lane but she did not prevent me from going Premier / Elite non-Pre.  And as I previously posted, that week the Premier got me through faster than Pre would have.

sac said:

Premier and/or TSA Pre status should not prevent people from going to the "regular" line if that is advantageous at the time.  Somebody needs to educate those agents.

In order to do this, you will be disregarding the specific instructions of the agents.  I don't know if they would be willing to stop you or not.

sac said:

Premier and/or TSA Pre status should not prevent people from going to the "regular" line if that is advantageous at the time.  Somebody needs to educate those agents.

Robert_Casotto said:

Aside from the regular Fourth Amendment violations, complete lack of food options, horrendous baggage carousels, completely awful customer service and horrible lines even for "priority" boarders, it really isn't that bad.

After our last flight we have decided that flying is now only for cross country or overseas. If we go to Disney again we will be taking the train. 

I feel bad for people who have to fly for work so they don't have a choice. Their self control must be amazing, if I had to fly on a regular basis I would probably lose my sh*t on someone and end up hand cuffed in a TSA back office somewhere.    

I fly regularly for work out of EWR and honestly speaking it has not been that bad.  In my experience, flying out of Terminal B is the smoothest transit out. Delta flies out of there.  

100% agreed, terminal B is MUCH better than Delta @ JFK or LGA.  It's a breeze though the terminal is a bit boring and outdated.  I've experience much worse times at United.  So fly Delta Jets!

xavier67 said:

I fly regularly for work out of EWR and honestly speaking it has not been that bad.  In my experience, flying out of Terminal B is the smoothest transit out. Delta flies out of there.  

For better or worse, United is the only realistic choice for many routes (in particular since many family members are in Texas, especially Houston.)  That has resulted in me having a fairly large cache of United FF miles, which keeps me with them for other trips in most cases.

But, honestly, most of the time my experiences aren't all that bad ... other than baggage claim - UGH!  (I try not to check baggage but can't avoid it for many of the longer trips, especially in winter.)

my experience has been with the substandard United operation.  It;s not wonder there's a proxy war at that Company.  It's as poorly run an operation as you get.

I have never loved United and they aren't quite back to CO service levels but they are much improved from merger days.

We fly frequently and I haven't had any of the issues being described, ever. I've usually found the lines to be fine. We flew back in late December on a day when a bunch of flights had been cancelled and that's they only time I've seen a "zoo" in the form of a customer service line to get re-booked.

We flew with three kids, aged 6, 2.5, and 9 months. The kids were awesome about waiting patiently in the security line without whining, crying, or misbehaving. TSA asshats weren't as well behaved, barking at people, etc. I'm juggling a baby and a diaper bag while holding the hand of my 2 year old and they're shouting at me to move along. I couldn't grab my carry on because I was holding the baby, but I couldn't put him down because they hadn't checked the stroller for explosives yet and yelled at me that I couldn't use it while simultaneously yelling at me to move along. What the ***** was I supposed to do? Balance him on my head? I had a baby sling with me but needed to put the baby down to slip it over my head, so I ended up putting the baby, sitting up, in one of the large trays where you put your shoes for all of 30 seconds to put on the sling. The TSA guy started to yell at me for that, but then stopped mid sentence. I think it was because at that point I glared at him in such away that he was probably worried I was going to tear his throat out with my teeth.

Then on the plane the baby threw up in my hand, so I grabbed a barf bag and dumped the puke in there. Upon seeing the baby throw up (actual vomit, not spit up mind you) my 6 year old got sick, he had his own barf bag. My husband brought the used bags to the flight attendant and asked for new ones in case it wasn't over. They gave him one bag. He explained we had used two, and that both the six year old and baby might throw up again, we needed two new bags. She gave him a trash bag for us to use as a barf bag. Thankfully we didn't need it as we had apparently gone over our quota for barf bags.

I was struggling to get to my diaper bag to get some baby wipes so I could clean up the two kids, the woman in front of me had kids and was kind enough to hand me wipes that she has handy. Nothing from the flight attendants, other than the one new barf bag and one trash bag that my husband had asked for. They never even came by to see how we were doing. 

It's gonna be a long time before I willingly get on a flight again. 

anyone traveling on United before the end of March? I have two Lounge passes up for grabs. My only request is that you bring me back something cool from your destination (doesn't have to be expensive)

3 dozen United flights delayed due to passengers stuck in security line:

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/three-dozen-flights-at-newark-airport-delayed-wednesday-night-1.11558352?=398039802

PetuniaBird said:

3 dozen United flights delayed due to passengers stuck in security line:

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/three-dozen-flights-at-newark-airport-delayed-wednesday-night-1.11558352?=398039802

From the article:  "The TSA says there are two reasons for the delays. The first is an increase in spring break travelers, which compared to last year, is up 7 percent."

Personally, I don't understand how they blame delays on a Wednesday night on Spring Break travelers. Spring Breaks are full weeks so the travel is mostly on or adjacent to the weekends, NOT on Wednesdays.  And they never said what the second reason was.

I couldn't read the article since it is behind a paywall.

That's bullsh*t. They changed the entire way they are managing the security gates.  It has nothing to do with an increase in passengers.  This is a systemic problem.

sac said:

PetuniaBird said:

3 dozen United flights delayed due to passengers stuck in security line:

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/three-dozen-flights-at-newark-airport-delayed-wednesday-night-1.11558352?=398039802

From the article:  "The TSA says there are two reasons for the delays. The first is an increase in spring break travelers, which compared to last year, is up 7 percent."




Personally, I don't understand how they blame delays on a Wednesday night on Spring Break travelers. Spring Breaks are full weeks so the travel is mostly on or adjacent to the weekends, NOT on Wednesdays.  And they never said what the second reason was.

Spent a couple of hours at SFO last week and I was just blown away by how nice an airport can be. Art exhibits, couches with charging stations, yoga rooms, decent restaurants.....

Why can't we have nice things?

Lots of new dining options in Terminal C. However, you won't have time to eat there since you can't get through security.

Klinker said:

Spent a couple of hours at SFO last week and I was just blown away by how nice an airport can be. Art exhibits, couches with charging stations, yoga rooms, decent restaurants.....

Why can't we have nice things?

basically every airport (other than LGA) is better than EWR.  admittedly, EWR is a very low bar.  

I'd argue that Terminal C is fairly decent - fairly easy to navigate / get around, a lot of food & shopping options, 2 United Clubs, plenty of seating and charging outlets, fairly easy to get to and from via auto.  Certainly better than most of ORD, DFW, LAX, MCO, ATL, and MIA.

Robert_Casotto said:

basically every airport (other than LGA) is better than EWR.  admittedly, EWR is a very low bar.  

Klinker said:

Spent a couple of hours at SFO last week and I was just blown away by how nice an airport can be. Art exhibits, couches with charging stations, yoga rooms, decent restaurants.....

Why can't we have nice things?

And a Centurion Lounge.  For red-eyes that's a very nice thing to be able to take advantage of, particularly given United lounges generally suck.

lanky said:

I'd argue that Terminal C is fairly decent - fairly easy to navigate / get around, a lot of food & shopping options, 2 United Clubs, plenty of seating and charging outlets, fairly easy to get to and from via auto.  Certainly better than most of ORD, DFW, LAX, MCO, ATL, and MIA.

Robert_Casotto said:

basically every airport (other than LGA) is better than EWR.  admittedly, EWR is a very low bar.  

I agree with you regarding Terminal C, Lanky. {Full disclosure - I was part of the team that renovated it on behalf of Continental back in '99 - '02.  The addition of the airside corridor, new C3 concourse, additional departures level and new arrivals level, upgrade of one of the vertical circulation cores (all three were planned) has improved things}

I amended the thread title to reflect that I was mostly referring to the TSA security situation there. One checkpoint, enormous lines, and as a result, questionable security scans.

We made our flight that morning with about 5 minutes to spare, but the angst generated was terrible.

jimmurphy said:I amended the thread title to reflect that I was mostly referring to the TSA security situation there. One checkpoint, enormous lines, and as a result, questionable security scans.

There are three security checkpoints in Terminal C, last time I checked.  I find the security in Terminal A to be much worse than C.  (And they don't really do TSA-pre to the full extent, which is annoying.)

sac said:
There are three security checkpoints in Terminal C, last time I checked.  I find the security in Terminal A to be much worse than C.  (And they don't really do TSA-pre to the full extent, which is annoying.)

Yes, there are three, but they have taken to using only one of them for anyone who is not TSA Prechecked.  The line runs the length of the entire terminal at times.

I was in terminal C last week and running late. A traveler overheard my plea to security and let me cut in front of them saving about 20-30 minutes. Got to my flight with 15 minutes left for boarding only to find out we were delayed and spent another hour or so in the terminal. Much more interesting than terminal A I must say..

lanky said:

I'd argue that Terminal C is fairly decent - fairly easy to navigate / get around, a lot of food & shopping options, 2 United Clubs, plenty of seating and charging outlets, fairly easy to get to and from via auto.  Certainly better than most of ORD, DFW, LAX, MCO, ATL, and MIA.

Robert_Casotto said:

basically every airport (other than LGA) is better than EWR.  admittedly, EWR is a very low bar.  

Completely agree.  All this Terminal C hate is ridiculous.  It's a perfectly fine terminal. I've been in plenty worse.

I fly Jet Blue in and out of EWR at least five times a year, sometimes alone and sometimes with a bunch of grandkids. Never had a problem with the staff in the terminal or at security checks or on the plane. Very lovely people just doing their jobs, which can't always be easy. I have, however, witnessed very rude passengers who hold up flights, try to jam huge suitcases into the overhead bins as "carry-ons", and immediately push their way off the plane once it lands. Crying babies? Not a problem. Whining adults? So annoying!

I shamelessly ordered lunch and a glass of wine on an iPad in Terminal C, my oversized "carryon" under the table. It was the most civilized part of that day. 

I still haven't seen this. Husband flew out of EWR last week and this week and reported short, easy lines (as usual) in Terminal C. 

I also think it's a decent airport. Terminal C has decent food choices, it is bright and doesn't feel too crowded. The three separate "wings" mean no huge walks to any gate. I've been to better airports, sure but I'd say more than half of the others are a little bit to a whole lot worse.

What is sad is that this is acceptable infrastructure in this country. 

The problem is Security. The terminal is fine once you get through Security.

I don't understand why Mileage Plus members can't go through any of the 3 gates. TSA sends them all over to Gate 1 and it's a sh&t show.

mbaldwin said:

lanky said:

I'd argue that Terminal C is fairly decent - fairly easy to navigate / get around, a lot of food & shopping options, 2 United Clubs, plenty of seating and charging outlets, fairly easy to get to and from via auto.  Certainly better than most of ORD, DFW, LAX, MCO, ATL, and MIA.

Robert_Casotto said:

basically every airport (other than LGA) is better than EWR.  admittedly, EWR is a very low bar.  

Completely agree.  All this Terminal C hate is ridiculous.  It's a perfectly fine terminal. I've been in plenty worse.

Interestingly enough, the top three worst airports in the US according to Conde Nast's last reader's poll were (from 3->1) JFK, EWR and LGA.