Worst & Best Airports

[Danno]

I fly United frequently, because Denver, and whenever I fly any other carrier I do not feel like United is inferior. They all suck.

[skaredshtles]

I fly United frequently, because Denver, and whenever I fly any other carrier I do not feel like United is inferior. They all suck.

I've not had any issues (knock on wood) with Southwest out of Denver... then again, I maintain very low expectations.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

SFO 9am T3 United Premier counter 2hr before dep. Nobody even bothers to scan the tons of luggage piling up. One agent kidna sorta glancing at IDs, asking about batteries.
"I feel nervous that our baggage tags aren't getting scanned before I walk away from my bags."
"Uh huh"

DEN 3pm "Your bags will arrive in 3 to 5 hours. Wait or delivery?"
"Delivered please. When?"
"Probably tomorrow afternoon, maybe the day after."
"OK. But not middle of the night, right? I just don't want to be woken up."
"Of course not! They won't do that."

3am *DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG* "Do these bags look familiar?"

WTF totally fucking unnecessary all around. I don't even know who to complain to.

Way back before 9/11 we were flying to Chicago on SouthWorst to meet some friends and then go straight to a lake house in Wisconsin for a week. We're running late and do curbside check in for the bags and we're right at 30 minutes to flight time. Run to the gate and barely make our flight.

We get to Chicago and my bag shows up at baggage, but not my wife's. We wait until the bitter end and there's just one lone bag going around the carousel and we go into the SW baggage office to start the process. We tell the barely caring SW customer service person our bag hasn't shown up and she clicks some keys on the computer.. "You sure it's not here?". "No, it's not here." She clicks some more keys and then goes out to the carousel in a huff, brings back the lone bag and drops it on the floor and loudly proclaims "HERE'S YOUR BAG". My wife looks at the bag and says "That's not my bag." Then she points at one of those picture tags hanging off the bag's handle with a picture of someone's dog, "That's not even my dog".

The look of shock on the service drone's face was almost worth dealing with her shitty attitude. Within minutes she tracked wifey's bag in Seattle. It took a day to get our bag delivered way out in BFE wisco, some black kid straight outta south side showed up at 1 am with it. He looked like he'd never been out of the city and was scared out of his wits. We gave him a beer and $20 for his effort.

[Danno]

I've not had any issues (knock on wood) with Southwest out of Denver... then again, I maintain very low expectations.

I haven't either (nor have I had United issues, FWIW). But it's SWA that has had the more newsworthy problems with flight schedules that last year, not United. And while none of those affected me, I do have friends and family (including in Denver) that were screwed royally by SWA.

[Buzzworthy]

If you regularly fly out of Seattle, get Clear. The TSA precheck line the last few times was a full hour. Wraps around the airport. SeaTac feels tiny these days.

[Ted Striker]

It's all North American airlines. They just take turns.

[summit]

SFO both the Pre and Clear lines were longer than normal security at T3 and I was told this is normal.

This is frequently true at DEN too, and even more common that that Clear+Pre is longer than Pre.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I can handle long lines at TSA but I'm not letting my bags out of my sight. I don't think I'll check anything again ever.

[Supermoon]

SFO both the Pre and Clear lines were longer than normal security at T3 and I was told this is normal.

This is frequently true at DEN too, and even more common that that Clear+Pre is longer than Pre.

I don’t know why they never open more than one Pre check line at basically any airport.

[skaredshtles]

I can handle long lines at TSA but I'm not letting my bags out of my sight. I don't think I'll check anything again ever.

We did this on our trip over to Europe earlier this summer... and it was a PITA due to *everyone* apparently bringing their luggage with them into the cabin. We ended up checking our backpacks on the way back because of the hassle.

[summit]

I don’t know why they never open more than one Pre check line at basically any airport.

It's BS. If you are giving up some privacy and paying for it, the reward is supposed to be faster security. But we are talking about the TSA.

[Danno]

I can handle long lines at TSA but I'm not letting my bags out of my sight. I don't think I'll check anything again ever.

at the risk of jinxing myself, I haven't had lost luggage in a long time. Admittedly, I am one of those "arrive at the airport with gobs of time" people. And usually flying non-stop. Both of which help.

Also, on just about every flight, whether I check a bag or not before security, I also frequently use the free gate check they are always offering (because the flights are always full and there's never enough overhead space). You can be sure your bag gets on the right plane in that event.

[BmillsSkier]

I find that security ebbs and flows like anything else but for me (ATL), Precheck/Clear is still overwhelmingly faster than regular TSA.

In recent months I've seen the regular TSA line extend out of the terminal, into baggage claim and then snake outside with wait times approaching 2.5+ hours. Precheck at that same time was longer than usual at 30 minutes (usually 8-12 minutes) but still worth every penny.

Once you get to any airport that isn't a major hub the only think I've found that can slow down your trip through Precheck is how fast you can move your legs.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Gate check is great if there's someone actually handling baggage at your connection and/or destination which doesn't seem to be happening on a regular basis at this time.

This is one of the benefits of Delta comfort+ and premium economy - assigned overhead bins. I can go a couple weeks with an international size carryon and an Osprey transporter extra bag.

https://www.osprey.com/us/en/product...728&nulsc=true

I might need to do some laundry but that beats losing luggage.

[BmillsSkier]

Gate check is great if there's someone actually handling baggage at your connection and/or destination which doesn't seem to be happening on a regular basis at this time.

Back when we were new parents we gate checked our fancy-ass Uppababy travel stroller that was fresh out of the box. Got the tag saw it get stacked next to the baggage conveyer, didn't think another thing about it.

Until we landed and was told there was no such stroller on board and the tag was never scanned into their system. Thieves suck ass, especially when you're forced to use their services.

To DL's credit, they had money in our account within 24 hours for a new fancy-assed stroller which did make the return flight home.