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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   19159 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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These days, at least in the airports I use, it's a <5 minute process, and the only inconvenience is emptying my pockets into my bag and putting them back in. Walk in, Touchless ID/CLEAR, get to a line of a few people on the new machines, bags in, metal detector, done. Not that there aren't absolute disasters, like Austin last weekend, but those are usually pretty easy to avoid. Sure, it would be nice to just not have it, but when has the government ever abolished a jobs program that lets them charge you money?

At Newark it is still terrible. One line to show your boarding pass to the TSA official. That official sends you to the pre-check line, where you wait to provide ID to another TSA official. Then to the bags, where they change the rules occasionally on which things have to go in and which can be separate, and whether you can wear your shoes (yes, even with pre-check). Then of course the wonderful "random" additional bag search, which I hit about 1 in 3 times.

If you don't have pre-check you'll be waiting over an hour on the main security line, sometimes over 2 hours.

I have not had much trouble at Newark lately, but I know it's usually a shitshow in all respects. Touchless ID should at least smooth some of that out if you're signed up and flying through a terminal that has it.

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