Oh Canada…oh the airport

Traveling to Canada for a week. This is the first time that I’ve been on a plane in two and a half years. And how have airports changed, or is it us that have?

First, people have forgotten how to walk. Or maybe I just forgot how bad they are at it. And what really surprised me was just how busy it was. I have a feeling that almost all of it is domestic travel.

The first part that really sucked was the security line. If anything would push me into getting the TSA pre-check, then it would be that. Although, I suspect that the wait time for the pre-check wasn’t much better.

The line, oh the line. Once we got into it, the line was wrapping around the baggage claim. It went fast, but still. Once we got to the actual scanning, we were told to just leave liquids and laptops in the bag. Even the security seemed to give up a little.

A lot of people, and the systems haven’t been able to catch up to the demand. If I think it’s bad now, just wait until the travel season really hits. Just the security line was a foreshadow. Later on the way home, we would see how little an airport has to offer at 6 AM.

The train shuttle to the terminals was very much the same. Folks still trying to remember how to walk and get on a tram. Once inside Terminal B, it felt that there was a mix of people milling about at the same time that they were all in a rush to get somewhere. Haven’t seen that many folks rushing to get nowhere in a long time.

And then we waited.

You can tell that there is a bit of understaffing, especially in the food service areas.

People watching. That’s one of the reasons that I like to get to the airport so damn early. I miss the days when you could just walk up to the gates and hang out, pre-911. I miss that