For travellers leaving from LAX

Well good ol' Tom Bradley terminal 4 has changed the baggage check procedures yet again. One now must first check-in and get baggage tags then go to the security screening then make sure your bags get to airline before going to the gate.

Before one had to screen the bags then check it in. Then for awhile for certain class travellers, they had the screening right at the check in counter (For SIA) which was hella convenient.

If you're transitting, this new procedure is ONLY for Terminal 4 International airlines. Other airlines like United, NW and a few others have yet again different procedures.

Of course my 3 bags DID NOT make it with me on my flights since I had to line up at the security screening to find out I had to check in first then line up again. Spent 1.5 hours doing that. Then had to wait for rap singer Eve's entourage to go through security before I could.

Just fyi for LAX travellers.

Don't know how you do it Drew, I loose it when I get to the City and have to wait at a traffic light again

 

When we flew accross AUS in the Piper Lance, we would just land, drive up to the fuel pump, swipe the card, fill up with fuel and just take off again without waiting, seeing, or talking to anyone.

Drew,

Do you think this will be better or worse than the old procedure?

 

I always hated waiting in the long bag screening line with the screeners taking a break every 10 minutes and then waiting for there to finally be sufficient bags to your destination to warrant rolling the baggage cart to the counter, and then waiting for a porter to lift your bags onto the scale at the counter (but don't touch the bags else you start all over) in order to just check in...........I hate terminal 4 at LAX !!

Better? LAX? ROFL!

Unlike other airports, LAX changes procedure and expects passengers to adapt. Airlines don't update websites nor does LAX. So it's a hit or miss whether you get the system at Terminal 4 or not. I travel frequently from it so when I think it's one system, it's usually a new one. Other airports have new procedures but the general flow of check in, security, board still applies.

It makes no sense to have the screening outside. Puts more people in small passage ways and if you think about it, a bomb would kill the lines of people waiting to be screened. Then you have the porters who get priority and airline staff, just makes for a very inefficient system. I've lost quite a few things from my bags and TSA and airline both ignore me. So they do open the bags if they find something they don't like on Xray. If that's the case, why have it on the outside? Other than to keep the TSA staff honest?

 

Wags, like I always tell many people who've never left the US, it's a big world out there.

Plus you try flying with a camera housing as carry-on in Oz, then come back to talk.

CRap!

 

I fly through there the end of January again. I absolutely hate LAX. Probably the worst airport I have been through. I never understood the screening outside thing. Only airport I have seen that in. I assume because the age of the airport does not allow for enough room behind the counters like other airports.

 

So it is counter for check-in then take the bags for screening, then back to the counter to give the airline my bags. Sounds efficient.

 

Todd

We experienced this new "system" first hand in October. It's the most f#@ked up thing I've ever seen. No one tells you what to do or where to go and everyone else is just as confused as you are.

You wait in line to check in with the airline and then have to take you check-in luggage across the aisle to the TSA line. Then you have to wait in line with your bags until they're taken into the screening area at which point you wait till they're done with the screening and you identify your bags so a porter can take them back to the airline. Does this make sense!!

While the TSA checks your bags you can see into the area where they do the screening although your view is partially blocked by a partition. I don't know if the TSA guys were just having a bad day or what but they were handling the bags very roughly. I had the pleasure of watching my camera case thrown across the room with enough force to bounce off the far wall.

Added recommendation:

 

After your bags clear TSA inspection, they tell you it's OK to go to gate. Don't go until you watch your bags returned to the correct air line counter. Also, the TSA inspection station at the back of the main terminal room is usually less busy than the one in the front by the entry door.

 

For international flights leaving at night, I arrive 3.5 hours befor flight time.

Plus you try flying with a camera housing as carry-on in Oz, then come back to talk.

 

I do it all the time ( about every other week ), in fact I flew out of sunny Cairns International today with fully loaded carry-on's. ( 2 housings , 2 bodies , laptop, assorted lenses ) - the guys at security just shook their heads in dismay and were more interested in where I was going rather than what was in the bags.

 

The lady at the check-in counter didn't even blink with 2 fully loaded pelicans ( 55kgs in total ), in fact she asked if I had anything else to check.

 

I had the Tom Bradley experience on the way back from DEMA this year - enough to say that it is not the most efficient ( or secure ) system i have ever experienced.

And I have walked on carying a BETA SP Camera which went in the over head locker and my Navigator housing with camera inside in my small backpack.

 

Hey Peter I left Cairns once they put traffic lights in around the city block area.

 

Ive been to the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and all over AUS on my Bikes. I was in awe at Heathrow Airport, just could not believe all those people crammed in there...amazing and made me realize that I lived in a very lucky country.

I do it all the time ( about every other week ), in fact I flew out of sunny Cairns International today with fully loaded carry-on's. ( 2 housings , 2 bodies , laptop, assorted lenses ) - the guys at security just shook their heads in dismay and were more interested in where I was going rather than what was in the bags.

 

The lady at the check-in counter didn't even blink with 2 fully loaded pelicans ( 55kgs in total ), in fact she asked if I had anything else to check.

 

I had the Tom Bradley experience on the way back from DEMA this year - enough to say that it is not the most efficient ( or secure ) system i have ever experienced.

 

Try that in Brissie or Perth, Peter. They wanted to weigh my housing. I just referred everything to the airline staff manager who said it's all ok, albeit looking a bit harried from my looking a bit crossed.

 

Larry (lionfish), LAX has switched the system twice since October. They went back to the screen to check-in format, then just before xmas went back to the check-in to screen to check-in again system. They've switched 6 times in the last 8 months. I know cos I get caught thinking it's the same system. I even showed foresight by asking my friend who'd left the week before x'mas and it was screen first. Of course, when I go through it, it's check-in first. Plus they shut down the 2 other baggage screening machines at the busiest times. I mean they charge us for TSA security... just add $5 more and hire more staff. They have the volume of passengers.

Well good ol' Tom Bradley terminal 4 has changed the baggage check procedures yet again. One now must first check-in and get baggage tags then go to the security screening then make sure your bags get to airline before going to the gate.

I fly out of Bradley 3 to 4 times per year and that has always been the security procedure (check-in, take bags to screening, walk with bags back to check-in). Apparently whenever the other procedures you speak of are in effect I haven't been there. Frankly I don't find anything particularly onerous about using LAX for my Pacific trips. Much of the regimen around flying hasn't been enjoyable for a long, long time, but altering procedures, while maybe problematic for some, is also a security measure in and of itself.

 

Just as a side note:

Off to the Red Sea a couple years ago. At JFK Eqypt Air screens your bag before you enter the Ticketing/Check-in area (at least it was that way in 2004). So I place my bag on the conveyor, the machine screens my bag and spits it out the other end. Without thinking I move my bag to the floor, open it up and place the large book I have been carrying under my arm into the already screened bag. Suddenly that seldom listened to voice-in-my-head tells me that was wrong and to watch out for security people already moving to pounce upon me for this transgression.....I wait, I feel guilty, I'm a bit pissed at myself.....but no one comes over. No one noticed. Now I don't know how big bombs are, but I'm certain my book was big enough to hold one and mine made it into the cargo hold without being screened.

 

That's the stuff that irritates me, not the procedures that cause me inconvenience but rather that incompetence that could be dangerous.

Try that in Brissie or Perth, Peter. They wanted to weigh my housing. I just referred everything to the airline staff manager who said it's all ok, albeit looking a bit harried from my looking a bit crossed.

In '05, flying out of Brisbane for PNG, Air Nuguini weighed my carry-on. It was a rather curious thing, I was completely overweight on the cargo side, but they only seemed interested in my carry-on weight. Not the size, just the weight. In fairness though, I don't believe it was AN operating the counter, maybe Qantas?