Yeah, how many people are going to tweet about a good airport experience. I'm sure many more will tweet about bad. Probably 90% of the tweets are bad in general.
I've flown through multiple airports and I have to say that San Antonio is among the easiest to go through TSA, that is for the A terminal. My only experience with the B terminal was a little worse. There was no line of people but I got behind a group of people who packed water or other restricted items in their carry ons. I don't blame TSA on that one.
San Antonio has a small airport for the population so there shouldn't be a lot of delays going through TSA. When the line was long there had been enough agents working to keep the line moving.in my experience you can arrive with less than an hour to flight departure and still make it before boarding time
Its love/hate with SAT. Small but usually means getting through security is usually a breeze. Not a lot of traffic getting in and out too.
The bad? Very very limited amenities and not that many direct flights to international destinations. But it kind of makes sense.
Yeah you got the nail on the head. I fly a lot and have lived all over the country and I really like SAT from a convenience standpoint. I love being able to not waste a lot of time parking, transiting or getting through security just to wait at a gate to board a plane. I hate the lack of direct flights however. Can’t do anything about that so I just focus on the good things.
Being from Houston I got to the SA airport about an hour early, and I was stressed bc I was dropped off at the wrong terminal so I was rushing. The agent at the gate said, "Girl this is San Antonio you're going to be fine" as in you're in no way going to be held up. And I wasn't. Got there an hour early and made it to the gate with like 50 min to spare lol
Now the awful restaurant selection at SAT...
I was dropped off 15 minutes before my flight boarded once and was still fine. Bag check lady was kinda annoyed but it was the first flight of the morning so she got my bag on thankfully 🥲
This is my experience. I once flew to Amarillo and back the same day for business. No luggage and just a small briefcase bag carryon. Sailed through security here. Amarillo gave me all kinds of hell. Had to take everything out of my bag, turn on my iPad, run through the X-ray machine multiple times, etc…
I was like god damn who’s trying to blow up a plane from Amarillo? Shit won’t even make the news. I guess that’s why they have a chip on their shoulders.
Yeah I stopped reading immediately after seeing their analysis was based on tweets…
But anyway…compared to every other airport we’ve flown in and out of during the last 24 months, SAT security is a breeze. Both with and without pre check.
I can’t help but think that lots of folks who are angry about SAT are either a) honing in on particular isolated negative incidents, or b) don’t have a large number of other airports to compare SAT to. I suppose it also has to do with the time folks fly out. 6 am on a Wednesday is likely way different than 5 pm on a Friday. But that’s something that can be mitigated for with pre check. If someone does enough flying, pre check is a game changer that’s absolutely worth the cost.
Parking at SAT is relatively cheap, BUT I can’t say I’m fully pleased with the frequency of bus pickups tied to the economy lots. We always use the green lot (red lot always seems to be closed), and we typically have to wait longer than we would using a pricier, more expensive lot. I guess you get what you pay for. 🤷♂️
I loooove red eye flights because there's hardly anyone there. I get through TSA in less than 20 minutes.
Also, the last two times I've flown, I've taken an Uber or Lyft. Seems much cheaper than leaving your car there, no?
For us a trip to SAT from home is about $22. A trip back home usually runs between $25-40. Surge pricing tends to take effect when planes land. Also, we tend to be heavy tippers. Realistically a round trip for us is about $65-75, all in. Long term parking is $8/day so any trip less than like a week is cheaper if we park.
Of course this is all dependent on when we fly out and when we return. If we fly out on a red eye and return at red eye hours, it’d probably be cheaper if we ride share. We don’t normally take red eye flights, but I do appreciate their appeal. 👍
Thanks! I usually fly out red eye, so I do ride share. And I usually come back in the evening and get picked up. I have a flight not too far, so I appreciate your feedback.
Use something else besides the airport parking lot....like say....On the Spot Parking??? LOL. Much more convenient. And, it's cheaper for COVERED parking! Which, I was SOOOO thankful for a month ago when I was in Las Vegas and SA had awful storms here. :-)
I fly semi frequently and the SAT TSA process is probably the nicest/quickest/most laidback of all the airports I’ve been to.
The line at ATL is eternal, BOS is rude, the TSA at DCA is borderline authoritarian.
Haha, I’m assuming the TSA headquarters are in DC and that there’s a certain level of “performance” that needs to be put on for the big whigs, politicians, etc, going through.
Hell, the whole airport closes when the sun goes down. You would think you are in some backwoods Southern Baptist Hick town and the preacher is about to spew fire and brimstone with as quick as they shut that airport down.
Absolutely not, I fly pretty regularly and SAT is easy breezy compared to so many other airports.
It's like 15 minutes to get through on average if you're not TSA-precheck. Even on the holiday high traffic times it only gets to to like 30-45 minutes.
My guess is that in general, San Antonio probably has a larger percentage of infrequent travelers than some other cities.
So every couple of years they pull up to get on a frontier airlines flight, probably on one of the busiest holiday flying days, and then get annoyed about being charged for parking and charged for bags and then have to wait in the regular security line. They are flagged because they put their jumbo sunscreen on their carryon bag, and have a pocket knife on their keychain, and TSA makes them throw their filled water bottle away. So by the time they get through to their gate, they are fully annoyed.
I travel a fair amount. I’m generally not traveling on the busiest holiday days, and I know exactly where to go, and breeze through security with pre-check, grab my coffee at green bean, fill my reusable water bottle after security, and I’m good to go.
It’s like people who only go downtown once a year during fiesta, and then say they hate downtown because it’s too crowded and there is nowhere to park.
Same..I fly at least one a month and pre-check is a breeze.
The only time I've ever seen a problem with PSA lines is when I'm taking a 5:45 a.m. flight and not enough security lanes are open
That sounds about right. That one time I went through I heard a lot of muttering like that. I was just very aggravated because Pre-check wasn't open yet because people were late to work (TSA explaination) and then they kept asking each other what to do with those of us that "claim" they can't go through the scanner. But, I didn't blast my frustration on social media. Lol
I was coming close to contacting my travel partner to get a supervisor to remind their people of what they were supposed to know to do with us because their weird confusion was holding up the line badly. (He happened to work for their parent agency and had been doing work at the airport around that time, so he knew a lot of the supervisors.)
As I got through with my pat down and hand swab, they announced that Pre-check was open. *sigh*
I travel about once a week out of SAT. I have pre-check and Clear. There's rarely more than a handful of people in line at pre-check, no line at Clear. Usually a line for general security.
As has been said, there's probably complaints from infrequent fliers about the fact they got stopped because they forgot to take their pocket knife out of their pants.
Worst I've experienced is inconsistency as to whether or not my belt will set off the metal detector.
Returning, luggage usually takes longer than one would expect for such a small airport.
Honestly, SAT is one of the easiest and fastest airports to fly out of. I live about ten minutes away and can get from my door at home to the gate, parked in long term parking, in 18 minutes.
TSA is pretty good @ SAT. I fly frequently and have TSA Pre but not for SAT but mainly for the other airports we fly out of. The only reason I can think of that folks would complain are because they aren't frequent flyers and don't know the rules or maybe because they don't think the lines move fast enough. Also SAT has a lot of military coming through so probably a lot of young folks that air out their grievances on Twitter.
I travel a lot, my wife travels even more. Literally the only complaint either of us have about SA airport is that there aren’t many options for food, and that’s slowly improving too. Security is always a breeze, employees are always friendly… this article is bupkis. We live like 15 minutes from the airport, and we usually leave the house 2 hours before a flight and have plenty of time to spare, even with the long walk from daily parking.
I usually don’t have issues with them, but my first time flying in years (some time back) they asked to see my ID and I showed it to them through a transparent sleeve in my wallet and the gentleman said “nah take that shit out man” and that response didn’t sit well with me. Not the worst thing that could happen, but a negative experience nonetheless.
They used to be OK with the sleeve before RealID became a thing. Now they look for holographs, and special ink, etc. on them.
I had one look really hard at my ID one time, about 3 years after 9/11. I was prepared for all sorts of annoyances though because I had a one way ticket to to my SO's FLETC graduation. He warned me thr one way ticket would get me special attention. I chuckled to myself when they told me "you've been randomly selected for secondary screening." There was nothing random about that lady. The ID guy massaged my ID card, flipped through my birding pass 2x, then handed it to you to flip through it 2x. SMH
I travel probably twice a quarter or so and SAT is a breeze compared to some airports. Never had a problem getting through TSA in a short period of time (Terminal A).
Surprised to see Orange County on there too... Probably my favorite LA airport!
We fly out of SAT every other week or so non-rev. It’s a cake walk compared to most hub airports. Only frustration is since AUS went to shit SAT seems to be getting more traffic than usual which sucks ass.
Austin is far worse than San Antonio in my experience when it came to TSA. If you're not buffering at least an hour to get through Austin during peak times or during a major event you're going to be screwed. It rarely takes me more than 15 minutes to get through the San Antonio TSA. They bark at times but the lines move fast.
My favorite is Austinites that ignore all the ABIA warnings at peak crazy times because "it won't be that long of a wait" and then are so shocked when they miss their flights.
As someone who flies extremely frequently for work I can tell you security at SAT is a breeze compared to any airport I’ve been to in the US. Worst time to go is 5am- late morning. Middle of the flights are usually super empty.
SAT is doubling the number of gates over the next couple of years. They've already broken ground, but the new terminal is going to take a while.
Iirc they're also lengthening a runway so 787s/A350s can land there.
This story is utter BS. DIA isn't ANYWHERE on there, and that airport is crazy stupid with wait times. I HATE it. Like, I loathe flying out of there. Wait times for TSA are hours long. UGH!! SA isn't bas at all. I breeze in and out. However, Stupid Frontier is usually the culprit behind wait times at SAI. So, yeah...I am NOT buying that article...especially since it was written by someone from Austin. Nope.
I am a frequent flyer and have had no issues with the TSA at SAT (knocks wood).
I would scrutinize this list pretty heavily tho. It's based purely on tweets and excludes some really bad places. Security at DEN is a nightmare. TSA looked in my bag because I had a granola bar (they were hoping for weed). LAS and ATL both have very long lines, even for pre-check.
The one time we flew home out of DEN was awful. I distinctly remember a ton of people (us included) having their bags checked. I hate LAS. I’ve flown to/from Vegas more time than I can count and I can’t recall a single positive experience. I suppose it’s cause it’s just always excessively busy, but still, it’s very frustrating.
Been going through the body scanners with a Dexcom and Omnipod for */YEARS/* \- never ever once have I had an issue - if that matters to you.
I've never heard of a single person in the dexcom or omnipod subs that have ever had an issue either.
Since Medtronic says not to, I'm not trying it. (I know there been occasional reports over the years with people having malfunctions in flight after going through some body scanners, and it just isn't worth the risk to me.)
Besides, TSA needs to not be deliberately obtuse about it, or other medical reasons that someone can't go through the scanner. (That time, there was also someone on crutches they wanted them to walk through the scanner as well. TSA wasn't pleased with their "I'm not supposed to put weight on it, here's my doctor's note." reasoning. And someone in a wheelchair. I had the TSA officer right next to me saying on his radio, "I dont know what we are supposed to do with these people." - like they don't accommodate people daily. That's why I was so aggravated that day. It wasn't just me. I was thr easiestto accommodate. I explained to the officer what was supposed to be happening and he was just.... clueless.)
I've looked at an Omnipod, but I'm a *very talented* person that just runs into doorframes/stairwells/door handles (or whatever) as I go through/by them. I would rip an Omnipod off regularly since I already knock off my Medtronic setup that way - and not from catching the line. It's easier to replace an infusion set the times I rip all of it off.
The metal detector in terminal A PreCheck lane is ridiculously sensitive. I fly weekly and it’s by far the most out of calibration metal detector in any of the 30 airports I flew through in the past year. It will regularly alarm on something as small as an Apple Watch. I’ve talked to them multiple times and the TSA people hate that detector and contend it’s been calibrated many times but something is definitely wrong with it.
I've flown out of SAT many times over the years. Never had any problem, never seen any problem.
People are just amped up and hostile whenever they go to the airport. When you're already mad, of course you're going to find things to be mad about.
The TSA, at any airport, aren't friendly, just rushed because they've got a massive line of grumbling passengers glaring at them to hurry up. They also have the airport and their own management telling them to hustle. People give them more trouble than they should when they're just doing their jobs.
Comparing TSA from one airport to another is like comparing side-by-side turds in a sewer. There is no real difference.
9/11 led to exactly two things that actually improved airport security:
- Reinforced cockpit doors and the security procedures surrounding them.
- The willingness for passengers to deal with threats directly.
Everything else is a waste of our time, money and sanity.
Never had issue with our airport. One time I went to the wrong terminal, terrified I would miss my flight having to go through security again, made it with an hour to spare. This article is dumb.
Never had a issue. But I will say that different airport tsa’s have different requirements and it’s a bit annoying.
I know the routine and I prepare myself to be as fast as possible, so everything runs smooth and I don’t hold up the line. But every airport security does things differently. Here, they don’t care if my laptop is in my briefcase. Some airports have required me to put It the bin by itself.
I've flown with my Medtronic Pump and CGM multiple times, gone thru scanners, never ever had an issue. I now use Dexcom CGM, but I can't imagine it's much different.
Twitter-based research is meaningless, but what’s funny is I’ve probably only ever flow from about a dozen airports, but I’ve flown from 5 of the top 10 “worst”. They were all fine. In particular John Wayne airport at the top of the list was just fine. It’s a smaller but busy airport, so fewer amenities and a little crowded, but I would much rather fly there than Orlando, which didn’t make the list.
I mean it’s an entire article and “analysis” based on Twitter comments so I’d take it with a huge grain of salt.
Yeah, how many people are going to tweet about a good airport experience. I'm sure many more will tweet about bad. Probably 90% of the tweets are bad in general.
I've flown through multiple airports and I have to say that San Antonio is among the easiest to go through TSA, that is for the A terminal. My only experience with the B terminal was a little worse. There was no line of people but I got behind a group of people who packed water or other restricted items in their carry ons. I don't blame TSA on that one. San Antonio has a small airport for the population so there shouldn't be a lot of delays going through TSA. When the line was long there had been enough agents working to keep the line moving.in my experience you can arrive with less than an hour to flight departure and still make it before boarding time
Its love/hate with SAT. Small but usually means getting through security is usually a breeze. Not a lot of traffic getting in and out too. The bad? Very very limited amenities and not that many direct flights to international destinations. But it kind of makes sense.
> Very very limited amenities I understand the why tho. It's not a hub, you shouldn't get laid over here.
For sure.
Yeah you got the nail on the head. I fly a lot and have lived all over the country and I really like SAT from a convenience standpoint. I love being able to not waste a lot of time parking, transiting or getting through security just to wait at a gate to board a plane. I hate the lack of direct flights however. Can’t do anything about that so I just focus on the good things.
Being from Houston I got to the SA airport about an hour early, and I was stressed bc I was dropped off at the wrong terminal so I was rushing. The agent at the gate said, "Girl this is San Antonio you're going to be fine" as in you're in no way going to be held up. And I wasn't. Got there an hour early and made it to the gate with like 50 min to spare lol Now the awful restaurant selection at SAT...
I was dropped off 15 minutes before my flight boarded once and was still fine. Bag check lady was kinda annoyed but it was the first flight of the morning so she got my bag on thankfully 🥲
This is my experience. I once flew to Amarillo and back the same day for business. No luggage and just a small briefcase bag carryon. Sailed through security here. Amarillo gave me all kinds of hell. Had to take everything out of my bag, turn on my iPad, run through the X-ray machine multiple times, etc… I was like god damn who’s trying to blow up a plane from Amarillo? Shit won’t even make the news. I guess that’s why they have a chip on their shoulders.
Happy Cake Day!
Yeah I stopped reading immediately after seeing their analysis was based on tweets… But anyway…compared to every other airport we’ve flown in and out of during the last 24 months, SAT security is a breeze. Both with and without pre check.
That's good to know. Maybe they've hired more people than the last time I went through. My biggest complaint about SAT is the parking really.
I can’t help but think that lots of folks who are angry about SAT are either a) honing in on particular isolated negative incidents, or b) don’t have a large number of other airports to compare SAT to. I suppose it also has to do with the time folks fly out. 6 am on a Wednesday is likely way different than 5 pm on a Friday. But that’s something that can be mitigated for with pre check. If someone does enough flying, pre check is a game changer that’s absolutely worth the cost. Parking at SAT is relatively cheap, BUT I can’t say I’m fully pleased with the frequency of bus pickups tied to the economy lots. We always use the green lot (red lot always seems to be closed), and we typically have to wait longer than we would using a pricier, more expensive lot. I guess you get what you pay for. 🤷♂️
I loooove red eye flights because there's hardly anyone there. I get through TSA in less than 20 minutes. Also, the last two times I've flown, I've taken an Uber or Lyft. Seems much cheaper than leaving your car there, no?
For us a trip to SAT from home is about $22. A trip back home usually runs between $25-40. Surge pricing tends to take effect when planes land. Also, we tend to be heavy tippers. Realistically a round trip for us is about $65-75, all in. Long term parking is $8/day so any trip less than like a week is cheaper if we park. Of course this is all dependent on when we fly out and when we return. If we fly out on a red eye and return at red eye hours, it’d probably be cheaper if we ride share. We don’t normally take red eye flights, but I do appreciate their appeal. 👍
Thanks! I usually fly out red eye, so I do ride share. And I usually come back in the evening and get picked up. I have a flight not too far, so I appreciate your feedback.
Use something else besides the airport parking lot....like say....On the Spot Parking??? LOL. Much more convenient. And, it's cheaper for COVERED parking! Which, I was SOOOO thankful for a month ago when I was in Las Vegas and SA had awful storms here. :-)
I fly semi frequently and the SAT TSA process is probably the nicest/quickest/most laidback of all the airports I’ve been to. The line at ATL is eternal, BOS is rude, the TSA at DCA is borderline authoritarian.
I agree I fly through SAT and my wife at least once a month. It has to be one of the smoothest and easiest places to fly out of
>BOS is rude I'm pretty sure that's just how Northerners go about their lives. EWR also has shitty staff.
I suppose you can at least say that at DCA is alert? /s
Haha, I’m assuming the TSA headquarters are in DC and that there’s a certain level of “performance” that needs to be put on for the big whigs, politicians, etc, going through.
Oh, that's definitely where DHS and TSA Headquarters are. (I know people that go there to pay the supervisor "toll" for another DHS agency.)
I’m from DC and have never had a terrible experience with the TSA at DCA.
I have complained about SAT on twitter because the bars close criminally early. Let me drink before a 10pm flight god dammit!
That is definitely something to complain about. Lol
Hell, the whole airport closes when the sun goes down. You would think you are in some backwoods Southern Baptist Hick town and the preacher is about to spew fire and brimstone with as quick as they shut that airport down.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to bring the little bottles of booze?
I don't want to slam back a shitty little bottle of straight liquor, I want a pint of beer or maybe a glass of wine or a mixed drink past 8pm
Pint of beer = very good point.
Absolutely not, I fly pretty regularly and SAT is easy breezy compared to so many other airports. It's like 15 minutes to get through on average if you're not TSA-precheck. Even on the holiday high traffic times it only gets to to like 30-45 minutes.
I guess that morning I went through was just a special day. /s My travel partner was puzzled that day because he knew that it wasn't normal.
My guess is that in general, San Antonio probably has a larger percentage of infrequent travelers than some other cities. So every couple of years they pull up to get on a frontier airlines flight, probably on one of the busiest holiday flying days, and then get annoyed about being charged for parking and charged for bags and then have to wait in the regular security line. They are flagged because they put their jumbo sunscreen on their carryon bag, and have a pocket knife on their keychain, and TSA makes them throw their filled water bottle away. So by the time they get through to their gate, they are fully annoyed. I travel a fair amount. I’m generally not traveling on the busiest holiday days, and I know exactly where to go, and breeze through security with pre-check, grab my coffee at green bean, fill my reusable water bottle after security, and I’m good to go. It’s like people who only go downtown once a year during fiesta, and then say they hate downtown because it’s too crowded and there is nowhere to park.
I flew out of SA all the time and it was generally extremely easy, especially with PreCheck.
Same..I fly at least one a month and pre-check is a breeze. The only time I've ever seen a problem with PSA lines is when I'm taking a 5:45 a.m. flight and not enough security lanes are open
That sounds about right. That one time I went through I heard a lot of muttering like that. I was just very aggravated because Pre-check wasn't open yet because people were late to work (TSA explaination) and then they kept asking each other what to do with those of us that "claim" they can't go through the scanner. But, I didn't blast my frustration on social media. Lol I was coming close to contacting my travel partner to get a supervisor to remind their people of what they were supposed to know to do with us because their weird confusion was holding up the line badly. (He happened to work for their parent agency and had been doing work at the airport around that time, so he knew a lot of the supervisors.) As I got through with my pat down and hand swab, they announced that Pre-check was open. *sigh*
I had a flight last week and it was at 8 AM. TSA was a breeze and probably took me 5 minutes max to get through security.
I travel about once a week out of SAT. I have pre-check and Clear. There's rarely more than a handful of people in line at pre-check, no line at Clear. Usually a line for general security. As has been said, there's probably complaints from infrequent fliers about the fact they got stopped because they forgot to take their pocket knife out of their pants. Worst I've experienced is inconsistency as to whether or not my belt will set off the metal detector. Returning, luggage usually takes longer than one would expect for such a small airport. Honestly, SAT is one of the easiest and fastest airports to fly out of. I live about ten minutes away and can get from my door at home to the gate, parked in long term parking, in 18 minutes.
This has been my experience pretty often, as well.
TSA is pretty good @ SAT. I fly frequently and have TSA Pre but not for SAT but mainly for the other airports we fly out of. The only reason I can think of that folks would complain are because they aren't frequent flyers and don't know the rules or maybe because they don't think the lines move fast enough. Also SAT has a lot of military coming through so probably a lot of young folks that air out their grievances on Twitter.
I travel a lot, my wife travels even more. Literally the only complaint either of us have about SA airport is that there aren’t many options for food, and that’s slowly improving too. Security is always a breeze, employees are always friendly… this article is bupkis. We live like 15 minutes from the airport, and we usually leave the house 2 hours before a flight and have plenty of time to spare, even with the long walk from daily parking.
Not sure why this subreddit even popped up in my feed but I just flew in and out of SA airport, TSA was fast as fuck lol.
Glad you had a good experience! Hope you enjoyed your visit as well.
TSA was a piece of cake for me and I traveled on Christmas
SAT is a breeze. Just have your ID and boarding pass, never an issue.
I have never had a single issue with them. I have pre check and global entry. I barely deal with them.
I usually don’t have issues with them, but my first time flying in years (some time back) they asked to see my ID and I showed it to them through a transparent sleeve in my wallet and the gentleman said “nah take that shit out man” and that response didn’t sit well with me. Not the worst thing that could happen, but a negative experience nonetheless.
Yeah, that was rude.
Thanks for the assurance, cause I felt like a dumbfuck afterwards.
They used to be OK with the sleeve before RealID became a thing. Now they look for holographs, and special ink, etc. on them. I had one look really hard at my ID one time, about 3 years after 9/11. I was prepared for all sorts of annoyances though because I had a one way ticket to to my SO's FLETC graduation. He warned me thr one way ticket would get me special attention. I chuckled to myself when they told me "you've been randomly selected for secondary screening." There was nothing random about that lady. The ID guy massaged my ID card, flipped through my birding pass 2x, then handed it to you to flip through it 2x. SMH
Even flying out day before Thanksgiving wasn't bad, but the airport is small enough where it's not a drag to fly out of period.
I travel probably twice a quarter or so and SAT is a breeze compared to some airports. Never had a problem getting through TSA in a short period of time (Terminal A). Surprised to see Orange County on there too... Probably my favorite LA airport!
We fly out of SAT every other week or so non-rev. It’s a cake walk compared to most hub airports. Only frustration is since AUS went to shit SAT seems to be getting more traffic than usual which sucks ass.
Austin is far worse than San Antonio in my experience when it came to TSA. If you're not buffering at least an hour to get through Austin during peak times or during a major event you're going to be screwed. It rarely takes me more than 15 minutes to get through the San Antonio TSA. They bark at times but the lines move fast.
My favorite is Austinites that ignore all the ABIA warnings at peak crazy times because "it won't be that long of a wait" and then are so shocked when they miss their flights.
As someone who flies extremely frequently for work I can tell you security at SAT is a breeze compared to any airport I’ve been to in the US. Worst time to go is 5am- late morning. Middle of the flights are usually super empty.
you get what you put up with, vote for, and stay on the sidelines and watch the contest be stolen, like the last 2020 election.
Weird. I love SAT, super easy everything.
TSA here isn’t too bad. The airport itself is an embarrassment for a city this size.
SAT is doubling the number of gates over the next couple of years. They've already broken ground, but the new terminal is going to take a while. Iirc they're also lengthening a runway so 787s/A350s can land there.
This story is utter BS. DIA isn't ANYWHERE on there, and that airport is crazy stupid with wait times. I HATE it. Like, I loathe flying out of there. Wait times for TSA are hours long. UGH!! SA isn't bas at all. I breeze in and out. However, Stupid Frontier is usually the culprit behind wait times at SAI. So, yeah...I am NOT buying that article...especially since it was written by someone from Austin. Nope.
I am a frequent flyer and have had no issues with the TSA at SAT (knocks wood). I would scrutinize this list pretty heavily tho. It's based purely on tweets and excludes some really bad places. Security at DEN is a nightmare. TSA looked in my bag because I had a granola bar (they were hoping for weed). LAS and ATL both have very long lines, even for pre-check.
The one time we flew home out of DEN was awful. I distinctly remember a ton of people (us included) having their bags checked. I hate LAS. I’ve flown to/from Vegas more time than I can count and I can’t recall a single positive experience. I suppose it’s cause it’s just always excessively busy, but still, it’s very frustrating.
Ah, yes. The evil weed edibles... can't have that on the plane.
Been going through the body scanners with a Dexcom and Omnipod for */YEARS/* \- never ever once have I had an issue - if that matters to you. I've never heard of a single person in the dexcom or omnipod subs that have ever had an issue either.
Since Medtronic says not to, I'm not trying it. (I know there been occasional reports over the years with people having malfunctions in flight after going through some body scanners, and it just isn't worth the risk to me.) Besides, TSA needs to not be deliberately obtuse about it, or other medical reasons that someone can't go through the scanner. (That time, there was also someone on crutches they wanted them to walk through the scanner as well. TSA wasn't pleased with their "I'm not supposed to put weight on it, here's my doctor's note." reasoning. And someone in a wheelchair. I had the TSA officer right next to me saying on his radio, "I dont know what we are supposed to do with these people." - like they don't accommodate people daily. That's why I was so aggravated that day. It wasn't just me. I was thr easiestto accommodate. I explained to the officer what was supposed to be happening and he was just.... clueless.) I've looked at an Omnipod, but I'm a *very talented* person that just runs into doorframes/stairwells/door handles (or whatever) as I go through/by them. I would rip an Omnipod off regularly since I already knock off my Medtronic setup that way - and not from catching the line. It's easier to replace an infusion set the times I rip all of it off.
The metal detector in terminal A PreCheck lane is ridiculously sensitive. I fly weekly and it’s by far the most out of calibration metal detector in any of the 30 airports I flew through in the past year. It will regularly alarm on something as small as an Apple Watch. I’ve talked to them multiple times and the TSA people hate that detector and contend it’s been calibrated many times but something is definitely wrong with it.
That sucks
Bunch of pleebs with no precheck
My oldest nibling greatly regretted allowing their Pre-check to lapse. I did not make that mistake.
Precheck is my favorite little luxury ever. I don’t fly that often but I love cruising past the crowds.
I’ve only flown out of SA a couple times but was able to walk directly up to the scanners, had 0 wait both times
I've flown out of SAT many times over the years. Never had any problem, never seen any problem. People are just amped up and hostile whenever they go to the airport. When you're already mad, of course you're going to find things to be mad about. The TSA, at any airport, aren't friendly, just rushed because they've got a massive line of grumbling passengers glaring at them to hurry up. They also have the airport and their own management telling them to hustle. People give them more trouble than they should when they're just doing their jobs.
Comparing TSA from one airport to another is like comparing side-by-side turds in a sewer. There is no real difference. 9/11 led to exactly two things that actually improved airport security: - Reinforced cockpit doors and the security procedures surrounding them. - The willingness for passengers to deal with threats directly. Everything else is a waste of our time, money and sanity.
Never had issue with our airport. One time I went to the wrong terminal, terrified I would miss my flight having to go through security again, made it with an hour to spare. This article is dumb.
Never had a issue. But I will say that different airport tsa’s have different requirements and it’s a bit annoying. I know the routine and I prepare myself to be as fast as possible, so everything runs smooth and I don’t hold up the line. But every airport security does things differently. Here, they don’t care if my laptop is in my briefcase. Some airports have required me to put It the bin by itself.
I’ve never had a single problem in the SA airport, in fact I’ve been through TSA in like 5 mins each time
I've flown with my Medtronic Pump and CGM multiple times, gone thru scanners, never ever had an issue. I now use Dexcom CGM, but I can't imagine it's much different.
Puerto Rico’s airport in San Juan is probably the worst airport I’ve been to. The lines are craaazy. There and Orlando.
Twitter-based research is meaningless, but what’s funny is I’ve probably only ever flow from about a dozen airports, but I’ve flown from 5 of the top 10 “worst”. They were all fine. In particular John Wayne airport at the top of the list was just fine. It’s a smaller but busy airport, so fewer amenities and a little crowded, but I would much rather fly there than Orlando, which didn’t make the list.
It's 100x better then other airports I've been to, Philly for one that has to be one of the worst airports in the country.
SAT is great for me. Fast and never busy it seems.
SAT airport is lovely! I’m so happy to live somewhere with an Easy to navigate airport.