It's a "keep my carry on" thing and if I paid for more for my ticket I'm going to get on as quick as possible too.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This is fucked.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I normally fly AA. When traveling with my wife, rather than pay $25 to check my bag downstairs, I take it to the gate, where they will check it for free. They are happy to have one less dope trying to jam bags into the overhead bin.

I put my liquids, etc, in my wifes bag which she has to check downstairs because of all the "products" and makeup.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Figuring that I'll either be standing in line for 2+ hours or standing in line for a long time but sitting at my gate for an even longer time, I decided to take the plunge and finally start reading Robert Caro's series of biographies of Lyndon B. Johnson. The first book, The Path to Power, is 768 pages not counting works cited and notes. It smells like Old Book somethin' fierce. If he's spent his life writing this series, the least I can do is spend a few months reading it. Reading while standing in a security line is probably a little dicey but I think I can mostly pull it off.

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I heard the Ukrainian army took its training from French troops in how to defend Crimea.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The Ukraine? The Ukraine is weak. It's a sitting duck, a road apple

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Walked right through security at Midway with precheck.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Issues with Poland, Kirkwood?

Here's a good take on the subject:

http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/ ... o-terrible

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I come from Ukraine, you no say Ukraine weak!

Yes they hit on an important possible reason. A slow down in the process not staffing. Who knows why exactly? He says due to last year's audit. He has a great point though that more people would not help. Only so many people can pass though X amount of scanners.

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Elections have consequences.

Apparently some TSA big cheese is making a personal visit today to check things out ... how surprising that when they showed the lines this morning on WGN that they were moving along at a very nice clip ... what a coincidence!

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Whiners!

The lines were this long two years ago when I flew to Vegas. Got to the airport early, went through the line, had time to eat breakfast.

Get there early fuckers!

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Same sex, different habits - who gives a fucking shit
This won't make the species unfurl

Hey, we're playing a game here, pal.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

BS. At least some of the time at ORD. Long lines but not all stations open. Like being at walmart with only 2 of the 20 checkout lines open. Only worse because unlike retail, airports presumably can know almost exactly how many travelers they can expect at any given time.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Why is Jay Zawaski naked in the airport?

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

1. Go with Global Entry instead of PreCheck.

2. TSA does not require all airlines to participate in PreCheck. So if you are a Trusted Traveler, Frontier is apparently not a trusted airline (and forget about Spirit), so you have to wait in the long line. If TSA doesn't trust the likes of Frontier and Spirit, shut them down.

3. The TDC (Travel Document Checker) is a waste. If you screen properly who cares who is coming through the checkpoint?

4. I don't know that they've totally stopped the gate gropes, but it has been a while since I've seen one. But that's another waste.

5. Last time to Istanbul (at the gate), I had the airline, TSA, then CBP check my passport as I was boarding. Three checks within 30 feet of each other. Why? TSA should have taken a hike there.

6. The nudiescans are as defective as shit. At MSP two weeks ago I went through and alerted. They put me back in the machine - this time, entirely different areas alerted. How is that possible?

the extra credentials check is to provide a chance for an individual security scan by the guys in the back. isolate and scan the face etc.

also, it's all security theater. as much about the impression they are trying to make and putting passengers ill-at-ease as it is about stopping any sort of attempt to smuggle anything through the security scanners.

give everyone 1 free checked bag voucher and add $10 or whatever to the price of all tickets, ffs.

No. Nobody should be expected to pay $100 to have a short/no line to get thru, and nobody should have to sit in a security line for more than say an hour on the busiest of days.

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Got there at 10 yesterday, the line wasn't much longer than average, had all kinds of time to chill out.

The LBJ biography is very interesting so far.

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Global Entry last 5 years and is used to fast track US Customs when returning from travel overseas. You are also given a KTN for PreCheck.

The fee is paid to US Customs and Border Patrol for your background check, interview with a border patrol agent and GE Card.

It is what is so make lemonade with lemons.

I agree no one should be tortured to wait in line. But since I cannot change it and because our time is worth something (but not much) wife and I registered the other day for Global Entry and paid our $100 each. "STATUS: Pending Review." Thanks again for the recommendation.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Global Entry is technically not a 100% pass rate, but I know about a dozen people who have it and between maybe 1000 flights across all of us, nobody has ever gotten sent to the amateur line. Worst case is that you get hit with a random once you go through the X-Ray machine and they ask you to go either get your hands swabbed or through the nude-o-scope (but not your stuff).

When I got Global Entry, you could interview at the Customs facility at Harrison and Canal in the city. It was a piece of cake and there was a lot of metered street parking.

One problem at O'Hare is that after TSA set up their staffing levels, American went and fucked up the hub by tightening up the connection times so that planes are leaving from most of their 75 or so gates all within about 40 minutes of each other. And if you're flying when either Spirit or Frontier have a bunch of flights, and you don't have PreCheck, you're fucked because you have every Ma and Pa Kettle in line in front of you.

But a typical PreCheck day elsewhere.... this week I had a 2 person line at Miami at 4:45am Monday, and a 4 person line at Seattle at 3pm Wednesday. Multiple credit cards reimburse the $100, so it was a ridiculously easy decision.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

It's important, with Global Entry, that you make sure your boarding passes say TSA PreCheck (if on a participating carrier). If they don't, it usually pays to go to the ticket counter with your Global Entry card and ask them to make sure your number is input correctly.

Global Entry is great upon returning into the States. 45 seconds tops on the computer to get back into the country. Maybe two minutes in Customs last time at LAX. Amazing - but then again, I'm usually not carrying 85 suitcases.

Can't find the big thread, but I'm at Midway and not a sport coat in sight. JORR continues to be on the wrong side of history.

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-- source

Midway might as well be Calcutta. Savages everywhere, all the time.

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Thanks for the update.

Usually fly out of O'hare, but will be leaving Midway on Friday morning next week. How early should we get there?

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grab a seat at miller's pub.

7am

Thursday.

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