Getting through Security

If you’ve flown anywhere in the last several years, you already know how much of a pain airport security can be.  And with each successive year, it seems like the restrictions become more numerous.  Below are some useful tips to help ensure that your airport security experience is as smooth and “hassle-free” as possible.  These tips will not only help you, but they will also make the airport’s job much easier.  Believe it or not, security checks are as annoying for the staff as they are for you. Just imagine how many times must they remind people to remove their shoes, open their computers, toss their liquids....remove their shoes, open their computers, and toss their liquids?

Find out What Is and Isn’t Permissible

When we first sat down to write the list of restricted travel items, we quickly realized that a site of this scope could never hope to stay abreast of all the changing rules and regulations.   

Common sense will guide you through most of what you’ll need to know (no combustibles, no weapons, no liquids over 3 ounces, no sharp items, and no disabling substances or toxic chemicals), but for a comprehensive, real-time list of airport security dos and don’ts, check with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) section on travel restrictions and carry-on items.  This site even has an "alert" feature so you can receive email notifications in case there are any changes to this list prior to your departure.  While the Transportation Security Administration deals predominantly with US travel, its guidelines are pretty universal.  Few transportation organizations will have stricter rules than the TSA.  

If you’re dependent on certain types of medical equipment or prescription drugs (especially in liquid form), please read our detailed discussion on how to handle these items at security checkpoints. 

Lose the Metal and Wear Comfortable Clothes

Try to streamline your outfit for maximum convenience.  This means ridding yourself of belts, key chains, coins, unnecessary gadgets, and anything else that might trigger the security alarm when you walk through the metal protectors.  In other words, don’t wear clothes with lots of buckles, metal snaps, and other unnecessary doodads. The only things you should have in your pockets are your passport, boarding pass, wallet, cell phone, and essential medications (like inhalers).  All other items should go into your carry-on luggage (including any winter garments that you might be carrying at the moment).  And as a general rule of thumb, comfortable, easy-to-remove shoes are best.  If not during security checkpoints, these shoes will certainly become useful during long flights when you want to stretch your legs and relax your feet.

Never Joke about Terrorism

This one seems so obvious that it isn't worth including.  But under no circumstances should you ever joke about anything dangerous...ever.  Saying something like "it's not like I'm a terrorist," or "what do you hope to find...a bomb or something," are two of the fastest ways to get pulled off your flight and thrown into an intterogation room.  We cannot stress this enough.

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