Posted by TDI Diver on September 25, 2001 at 01:03:08:
I just returned from Hawaii. I took all my gear including a small knife which was packed
in my gear bag.
We flew United, each airline seems to have its own regulation regarding carry-on luggage. United
did not have any restrictions other than the normal two carry-on rule. There was also no more security than normal other
than a quick check of an ID and boarding pass or e-ticket just before the carry-on x-ray machine.
These very minimal procedures were the same at both LAX on friday the 14rh on the way over to Maui and on Sunday the 23 leaving Maui.
I did have my checked bags "randomly" selected by the computer to be x-rayed and because of the "shiney" (spelling) "stuff" in my dive gear bag
showing up on the x-ray machine I had to open it and have it hand searched. The "hand search" was no more than a two second look in my bag and a
question of what's that and my bags were on the way to the plane, which was delayed 12 hours before leaving.
We arrived at LAX 3.5 hours before our scheduled departure and were through check-in and gate securtiy within 30 minutes including the time it
took to "hand search" my gear bag. We were flying first class and the check-in line was not long, by looking at the coach line my quess is that
it would have been the usual 30 to 45 minute wait to check-in.
Also Friday the 14th was only the second day of the "new tighter security" at LAX so I suspect that the procedure is pretty much back to normal time by now.
Here are the things that I did notice were different:
no curb-side drop off or pick up. We were able to drop our luggage in Maui, and they did have curb side drop off and puck up there.
no curb-side baggage check.
ID checked twice, once at check-in as usual and once at security before going to the gate.
Only passengers with tickets and boarding passes beyond the security check, though no one really paid any attention to this and many people were going
through to the gates with no ticket or boarding pass. This happened both at LAX and Maui.
In first class we were given plastic knive with our silverware for diner.
When leaving Maui they took and nail clippers, finger nail file etc.. that were in carry-on baggage but not when leaveing LAX. It seem
different airports have different rules or at least interpret them different.
Other than that we experience no "tighter security" or no security related delays. Infact our flight back to LAX from Maui arrived 40 minutes early.