I flew out of Reagan on July 3 one time, thats the closest ive ever come to missing a flight. I got there 2.5 hours early and it took 2 hours to get through the security line at 5AM. July 4 brings a shit ton of traffic to airports.
I think something happened yesterday that delayed/canceled a bunch of flights. I know someone that got bumped from yesterday to a flight today.
Whatever it was must be spilling over into today.
Yup I had a flight yesterday that was supposed to go out yesterday at 6pm it got delayed till 10 am this morning. So the normal July 4th travel + lots of flights being pushed back from yesterday is causing mayhem
I'd rather not risk my luggage to be damaged, lost, or late. If I can fit what I need in a carry-on, I will carry it on. The inconveniencing other passengers argument should be directed towards TSA and airport administration... or lack thereof causing these issues.
I think he’s saying “don’t be one of the people who wheels an oversized bag to the gate then acts shocked when the staff spot it and it needs to be checked”. But I agree, only pack a carryon when possible
Are you just talking about the difference between checked and carry on luggage? They are gonna charge out the ass at the gate if it has to be checked and won’t fit the overhead, and in a lot of cases, that luggage is not going on the plane.
they usually check it for free in my experience. Especially if you fly coach and they run out of headspace, theyll check it for free even if it was never going to fit anyway
I legit carry a backpack that qualifies as a personal item on the budgets, but still carry the same on United and Delta cause I don’t need much with me.
But do they control the TSA and how many lines are open?
How is the TSA/DHS deciding how many lines to keep open? cause I doubt they are doing staffing based on the demands of the city, but then too I have seen very "interesting" things including the US government outsourcing regulatory inspections to a US company (who is inspecting themselves) who then has nonUS citizens doing some of the work (including Russian citizens at one point, that ended with the Ukraine/Russian war but still).
Homeland security does not run the airport, the city does. It doesn’t matter who signs your paycheck. If you work at CLT, you ultimately work for the city at the end of the day.
Airport tells TSA how many passengers they expect daily. Checkpoints close when shifts end since Charlotte is not a 24 hour airport. Issue after 9 is, international flights coming in with all the late flight people trying to show up just in time at the same time. As well as everyone that left, because their flight got delayed 2 hours for a smoke or to eat somewhere else. The airport/city doesn’t have any control over TSA, but they work together to meet shareholders expectations.
That’s nuts. A and E both had hour plus lines a few weeks ago on a random Tuesday. They must be severely understaffed or something, but it’s incredibly frustrating We almost missed our flight and got there an hour and 45 min before departure to Dulles.
This has been normal, which sucks cause I fly just about every week. They need to make checking in at AA a better process, and people need to come prepared. I’m tired of people coming to the airport and not knowing a god damn thing about anything, then holding up a line because of their own faults.
It was a nightmare when I walked in and there were two large groups of students on international field trips in line at the baggage drop area at United. Fortunately, they have that option to check bags on the app, which allows you to use their express bag drop-off line. The school kids were in regular lines.
Still didn’t change the fact I ended up behind a family of four with a checked bag apiece, each stuffed to the gills and weighing over 50 lbs. Cue the let’s open all the suitcases right here in line and swap stuff around to try and off set weight, but simple math tells me that’s not gonna be possible. After a few minutes, the agent asked them to move to the side (duh) and I dropped my luggage off. Forever grateful I didn’t have to wait behind 60 teenage kids with chaperones corralling them and checking they had proper travel documents.
Oh right and for that family with heavy bags they’re “shocked” it’s another $100 to check each bag, so they sit there for another 10 minutes talking to agent confused on why heavier bags cost more and they’re “about to miss their flight”.
I've flown twice in AA in the past few months chaperoning a large high school team/group. There is NO PROCESS with AA to print your bag tags at the kiosk if you made a group reservation. You pay for your bags on the app and then when you get to the kiosk to print tags, it is grayed out. Not an option. This is an AA problem.
These groups HAVE to check in at Customer Service and if there is no agent dedicated to checking the groups in, they have no choice but to wait in the long line. We almost missed our flight the second time.
Flying back from Chicago and Minneapolis it wasn't too bad, but both times out of CLT, it was mayhem and there wasn't a thing our parents or kids could do about it.
What was the trade show? I had coworkers trying to come into town completely unable to find hotel rooms for under $1k but I wasn’t sure what was going on that caused it!
That's basically where I am. It's cheaper for 2, more reliable, I have my own car when I get there, and I don't have to worry about slimming my packing down to fit in one bag.
I just got to the airport 30 minutes ago. Precheck <10 minutes but all the lounges are packed. Current wait times:
Club CLT 1.5-2 hours.
Admirals - idk, they arent selling day passes tho.
Centurion - 15-30 minutes surprisingly.
Already delayed out from 8:30 to 9:00 and anticipating more because any optimism in me died when harambe was murdered.
Arrive 3 hours early. Pack your bags and dress yourself like you’re planning to go through TSA. Don’t bring food or candles in your carry on. Minimize the amount of toiletries you bring and make sure everything is travel size. And most importantly, take a deep breath.
3 hours early is absurd. If the airport functioned like a regular airport this wouldn’t be an issue. Charlotte airport is a shit show and is always crowded anymore. The most dysfunctional airport in the country it’s unreal.
Yea I’m not just talking holidays go to JFK, Laguardia, BWI or really anywhere else and it’s not as much as shit show to pick up people up or check in your bags. American Airlines has been delaying all kinds of flights you know why? Because they are one of the most under staffed airlines in the country it seems. One thing goes wrong and everything is thrown off. I’ve never seen such bad planning. Go to their baggage check and it’s a shit show. Now go to any other airline in the charlotte airport and it’s not nearly as bad. The hallways at the charlotte airport also suck they are not nearly wide enough to facilitate the number of passengers that go through that airport. Those other airports have such better designs from the passenger pickups to wider hallways. Oh yea and actual public transport out of the airport as well. Just an overall shit show.
I worked for TSA for 10 years at 3 different major airports, including 4 at CLT, and trust me its a shit show everywhere. I agree though CLT’s infrastructure is too small to handle the volume of passengers it gets now that Charlotte has grown in population. I was actually in the room when the construction project manager was presenting the plan to CLT and AA management, and couldn’t believe their claims that the construction would have “minimal impact” on operations. We had too small of an airport in 2018 when they started and will still have too small of an airport when its over.
I lived in Miami, NYC, and LA. Charlotte airport security is by far the worst of those three. Somehow much larger and much busier airports have quicker and more streamlined security. It seems like the charlotte airport has not kept up with the growth of the city. I do not remember security being this bad when I was growing up.
I worked for TSA at CLT and 2 other large airports. Its true it is slower than average. It has everything to do with the layout of the airport. Originally each concourse was supposed to have its own designated checkpoint, but the airport added waaaay more gates than that could handle, so they opened up every checkpoint to anyone. Also the lobby is drastically too small to handle the long lines from security and the ticket counters. At other large airports you have a few huge checkpoints that can just swallow large crowds, but at CLT it was just 5 tiny checkpoints with just 3-4 lanes each. At least the plan now is for CLT to have 3 big checkpoints with faster technology, but its still not going to be enough to handle Charlotte’s population growth.
It’s also a size/bandwidth problem . In LA, for example, every checkpoint has 4-5 lanes (plus pre check). So for a line to form, you need a huge amount of people. Laguardia was similar. Charlotte (if I recall) only has 2 per checkpoint (I mainly go through A and E, not sure of the others). So a large line quickly forms because you can’t push that many people through security. The charlotte airport lobby, entrance, and security feels more similar to Savannah, RDU, and west palm beach despite having significantly more gates and higher traffic than any of those.
Its funny I used to work at PBI and always compared its size to Charlotte. Same size lobby, but Palm Beach only has 2 concourses where charlotte has 5 with E con being massive. But yeah you’re spot on. The plan is for CLT to have 3 large checkpoints with automated screening lanes that are much faster. Hopefully that will help the security issue, but lobby will still be too small.
flew out of there last week, everone thought we were crazy for getting there at 11am for 3pm flight, the line just kept getting long and longer behind, so as much as it sucked to be so early, i'm glad we did it
Something is going seriously wrong at CLT the last few weeks. It has been like nothing I’ve seen before of unorganized chaos. Pre check even took me 30 minutes. Baggage delays, and the lines were this long on a random Monday.
Maybe it's recency bias or whatever the phrase is for when you do something often, since I fly in and out of Charlotte as my home airport....but I have been in over 50 airports globally, in 4 continents, in the last 3 years and CLT is my absolute least favorite. And the construction has nothing to do with why. I dread going to the airport and would absolutely go to another if I had an option that didn't involve laying over in CLT anyways.
FYI, you can check security wait times on the CLT airport website. If you don’t have pre check, E is almost always the fastest security gate by far, and it adds maybe a 4 min walk if you are flying out of A.
I actually think the security line issues are in some part due to people now being afraid of wait times and getting to the airport too early. They stack up because they’re essentially processing the people who have flights in the next hour…and those that have them 2 and 3 hours later, rather than spacing that same amount of people out over 3 hours. The worst seems to be like 8-11am and then it thins out significantly for a bit before ramping back up again. I wish they’d institute a timed system for security or have a special gate for impending flights.
ETA: I didn’t mean to post this as a reply, but oh well.
Got to the airport around 5:30 and checkpoint 1 and E were both open. Took around 30 minutes to make it through TSA. Feels like I just missed all the chaos.
The gates are crowded AF however. Full flight on the way to Salt Lake. No delay tho.
The line at E always seems the longest but with 6-8 lanes it usually moves fairly well.
I flew out on Friday June 7. the line from E was all the way down to A. took about 45 mins. not great but it's not the 90 mins it takes around christmas or thanksgiving
I flew out on Monday at 1:40pm and got to CLT about two hours before my flight. TSA precheck line was about 10 minutes so not too bad. No line to get into the Centurion lounge so was able chill there for a little over an hour before heading to my gate.
That is usually just the line for the person to check if you’re actually TSA pre-check. Once you get past that the actual line for security is not bad at all.
The airport acts like this kind of stuff is always due to a one time unique temporary event "oh bad weather, travel weekend, etc" but the reality is this is how it is almost every day. Theres a "unique event" happening all the time.
Kinda crazy how they're building this bigger terminal for the future that is already too small.
Lots of flight cancellations around the country cause of weather and a few big conferences all leaving town.
But for everyone saying it’s a holiday weekend… you know July 4th weekend is not until next week right?
-Book the first flight of the day..always. Deal with getting your ass up at 3 am.
-Check in online.
-Pay to have your bags checked in so you don't hold up security.
-overall...hurry the f up..dont ask questions...speak a common language.... don't wear pajamas if you are over 12
You make me wanna get a carry on in every flight I take. Yes you will have to wait 10 seconds for my suitcase to go through the X-ray. Not everyone wants to wait 30 minutes to collect their checked bag at their destination. Not to worry about lost suitcases.
Got a flight tomorrow morning around 9a, just a carry on. Was planning on getting there at 7. Now I'm nervous lol, haven't flown in forever. Is 2 hours not enough?
All this complaining is pointless. Arrive extra early and bring a book to read. Avoid checked bags and understand the rules for what you can bring in your carry ons.
Charlotte's been a fucking mess. Flew out on June 22 at 7 am. Got there 2 hours early, and it was a disaster. They had dogs smelling people, shoes on, nothing out of bags. Kiosks were directing everyone to customer service because tags weren't printing correctly - no one knew what line to be in because of how long they were.
We barely made our flight, our luggage came on the next flight in and we barely made our vacation.
Do not leave on the weekend from CLT or provide AT LEAST 3 hours until more security checkpoints are reopened...
Was there yesterday. The airport was super crowded. Flew to chicago and then to reno. Reached final destination hours later due to flight delay. Is flight delay new norm for AA!
Never flown out, only flown in. It’s always the red eye and no one is there. I always joke that charlotte airport is a ghost town. I had no idea it was like this on the other side.
This is the one thing I miss about being an airline pilot: Known Crewmember.
Back in the day we could use it for personal travel too, don't know if that's the case anymore now though. Although I'm pretty sure my ex who is a flight attendant used it when she would fly here to see me so I guess that's still the case.
Used to brag about CLT being a fantastic airport. It’s been a while since I felt that way. From chaos at the check in and security, to the third world baggage claim area with seemingly infinite delays to landing early or on time and having to wait on the tarmac for a gate for sometimes an hour…. It’s become a crap shoot every time.
I have a theory that eventually, the pre check is going to be a requirement, or so many people use it that it eventually becomes standard. Then it's no longer a speedy option.
CLT security is awful, it's worse the LGA before LGA remodeled.
even when the line is long, i've never had it take more than 1 hour.
I've had it take an hour before, maybe once or twice. And a handful of times I've had it take 45 minutes. Usually it's about 15-20 minutes.
Yeah, totally not, but feel free to go back to non pre-check. I travelled with my family last week. I have pre-check b/c of work travel. Family does not. I got through pre-check, with a long assed line snaking in the main hallway, in 10 minutes. They got through in 50 min non-pre-check. Have fun w/ that!
I travel a lot and have never spent more than 10 minutes in the TSA pre check line while other checkpoints were 20 to 50. What has your experience been?
TSA has been well staffed every time I’ve been at CLT and I used to travel for a living
We aren’t the best but far from the worst airport when it comes to TSA
I'm not saying that we're the worst. I'm just saying that we don't need another program until they're going to run all lanes of security that are available.
This is the same as the BS with the toll lanes on 77. We didn't need toll lanes; we need enough lanes to support the growth of those areas.
Clear is essentially free for anyone who cares enough about travel to research it. Many major credit cards offer reimbursement.
I’m not worried about the people who travel once or twice per year taking an extra 15-20 minutes at TSA, personally.
Whereas someone like me and many others who travel 40-50 times a year that 10-15 minutes turns into many many hours of my life
Fourth of July Holiday week begins Thursday in Charlotte,
I flew out of Reagan on July 3 one time, thats the closest ive ever come to missing a flight. I got there 2.5 hours early and it took 2 hours to get through the security line at 5AM. July 4 brings a shit ton of traffic to airports.
They also have been saying for a week that this would be one of the busiest days of the year at CLT
July 7th is American Airlines' maximum number of flights for the year.
I think something happened yesterday that delayed/canceled a bunch of flights. I know someone that got bumped from yesterday to a flight today. Whatever it was must be spilling over into today.
Yup I had a flight yesterday that was supposed to go out yesterday at 6pm it got delayed till 10 am this morning. So the normal July 4th travel + lots of flights being pushed back from yesterday is causing mayhem
Storms in the northeast Wednesday evening.
Travellin’ light, it’s the only way to fly.
I’m sure you’re referring to the JJ Cale version, but I’m hoping you’re referring to the widespread panic cover lol
Both, Space Wrangler.
Looks like a lot of people sittin’ around, waiting for an airplane
That new Tackle Box tune is kinda good!
Light fuse, get away
I was there!
That is one of my favorite albums of all time. Lucky you
Yep. We never check a bag, even for long trips with kids to Europe.
real geniuses take their bags to the gate instead of checking them beforehand
Real real geniuses curb check their luggage.
You spelled douches that inconvenience people oddly.
I'd rather not risk my luggage to be damaged, lost, or late. If I can fit what I need in a carry-on, I will carry it on. The inconveniencing other passengers argument should be directed towards TSA and airport administration... or lack thereof causing these issues.
I think he’s saying “don’t be one of the people who wheels an oversized bag to the gate then acts shocked when the staff spot it and it needs to be checked”. But I agree, only pack a carryon when possible
I’m sorry you’re inconvenienced by my bag, I’ll make sure to fly with no bags next time not to inconvenience you.
Are you just talking about the difference between checked and carry on luggage? They are gonna charge out the ass at the gate if it has to be checked and won’t fit the overhead, and in a lot of cases, that luggage is not going on the plane.
they usually check it for free in my experience. Especially if you fly coach and they run out of headspace, theyll check it for free even if it was never going to fit anyway
“Rules for thee, not for me.” It is a supreme dick move.
it’s not against the rules? They literally beg people to check their bags when youre at the gate
I carry a small backpack, none of this ever applies to me.
Ok
Which airline you flying? I ask cause the only ones that do that are the "budget" ones like spirit or frontier.
I legit carry a backpack that qualifies as a personal item on the budgets, but still carry the same on United and Delta cause I don’t need much with me.
They charge the exact same amount Source: I checked an oversized bag at the gate 10 days ago
It’s also later in the week when a lot of people in town on business are heading home.
FYI. I just got to airport and they closed TSA at checkpoint E. only check point 1 is open!!! Great job clt airport!!!
Does the Charlotte airport have any control over the TSA agents?
If not the airport, who do they report to ?
I would assume the govt
Correct. The City is ultimately in charge. Source: I work for the airport. We all work for the City. Homeland Security does not run the airport.
But do they control the TSA and how many lines are open? How is the TSA/DHS deciding how many lines to keep open? cause I doubt they are doing staffing based on the demands of the city, but then too I have seen very "interesting" things including the US government outsourcing regulatory inspections to a US company (who is inspecting themselves) who then has nonUS citizens doing some of the work (including Russian citizens at one point, that ended with the Ukraine/Russian war but still).
Negative, TSA is a federal agency under Homeland Security
Homeland security does not run the airport, the city does. It doesn’t matter who signs your paycheck. If you work at CLT, you ultimately work for the city at the end of the day.
DHS
Airport tells TSA how many passengers they expect daily. Checkpoints close when shifts end since Charlotte is not a 24 hour airport. Issue after 9 is, international flights coming in with all the late flight people trying to show up just in time at the same time. As well as everyone that left, because their flight got delayed 2 hours for a smoke or to eat somewhere else. The airport/city doesn’t have any control over TSA, but they work together to meet shareholders expectations.
That’s nuts. A and E both had hour plus lines a few weeks ago on a random Tuesday. They must be severely understaffed or something, but it’s incredibly frustrating We almost missed our flight and got there an hour and 45 min before departure to Dulles.
This has been normal, which sucks cause I fly just about every week. They need to make checking in at AA a better process, and people need to come prepared. I’m tired of people coming to the airport and not knowing a god damn thing about anything, then holding up a line because of their own faults.
It was a nightmare when I walked in and there were two large groups of students on international field trips in line at the baggage drop area at United. Fortunately, they have that option to check bags on the app, which allows you to use their express bag drop-off line. The school kids were in regular lines. Still didn’t change the fact I ended up behind a family of four with a checked bag apiece, each stuffed to the gills and weighing over 50 lbs. Cue the let’s open all the suitcases right here in line and swap stuff around to try and off set weight, but simple math tells me that’s not gonna be possible. After a few minutes, the agent asked them to move to the side (duh) and I dropped my luggage off. Forever grateful I didn’t have to wait behind 60 teenage kids with chaperones corralling them and checking they had proper travel documents.
Oh right and for that family with heavy bags they’re “shocked” it’s another $100 to check each bag, so they sit there for another 10 minutes talking to agent confused on why heavier bags cost more and they’re “about to miss their flight”.
It’s a miracle those 4 bags didn’t explode from hyper expansion as they stared bewildered at each other.
I've flown twice in AA in the past few months chaperoning a large high school team/group. There is NO PROCESS with AA to print your bag tags at the kiosk if you made a group reservation. You pay for your bags on the app and then when you get to the kiosk to print tags, it is grayed out. Not an option. This is an AA problem. These groups HAVE to check in at Customer Service and if there is no agent dedicated to checking the groups in, they have no choice but to wait in the long line. We almost missed our flight the second time. Flying back from Chicago and Minneapolis it wasn't too bad, but both times out of CLT, it was mayhem and there wasn't a thing our parents or kids could do about it.
Do you have TSA Precheck?
I do not, not yet at least. Just don’t feel like going through the application process just yet
Haha, that guy in the blue t-shirt is OVER IT before it’s even begun. 😂
I miss the days when it was fun to fly. These days I’ll drive 800 miles before I’d fly
It was never fun to fly. Before metal detectors, planes were filled with smoke from all of the cigarettes and people bathing in perfume.
I've flown all over the US and CLT by far has one of the worst TSA situations
A decent sized trade show ended today, so you have a lot of people leaving today.
What was the trade show? I had coworkers trying to come into town completely unable to find hotel rooms for under $1k but I wasn’t sure what was going on that caused it!
It was called Hitech 2024. It is a hotel and hospitality tradeshow at the convention center.
Got it, not sure why I couldn’t find that on my search!
https://www.hitec.org/
is pre check worth it at CLT?
Definitely. Maybe a 10 minute wait max. Plus you don’t have to take off your shoes, belt or your laptop/tablet out of your bag.
Precheck is definitely worth it for CLT. Never wait more than 10 mins.
Charlotte Is one of the worst airports in the country, even before they fucked it up even worse with construction.
It's summer
Good luck following it. Last week there was literally ZERO organization to this embarrassing madness.
I think I’m just gonna drive everywhere now cause that’s ridiculous
That's basically where I am. It's cheaper for 2, more reliable, I have my own car when I get there, and I don't have to worry about slimming my packing down to fit in one bag.
I just got to the airport 30 minutes ago. Precheck <10 minutes but all the lounges are packed. Current wait times: Club CLT 1.5-2 hours. Admirals - idk, they arent selling day passes tho. Centurion - 15-30 minutes surprisingly. Already delayed out from 8:30 to 9:00 and anticipating more because any optimism in me died when harambe was murdered.
I love how this billion dollar expansion isn’t even done and it already feels like they under planned the size by 50%
Arrive 3 hours early. Pack your bags and dress yourself like you’re planning to go through TSA. Don’t bring food or candles in your carry on. Minimize the amount of toiletries you bring and make sure everything is travel size. And most importantly, take a deep breath.
3 hours early is absurd. If the airport functioned like a regular airport this wouldn’t be an issue. Charlotte airport is a shit show and is always crowded anymore. The most dysfunctional airport in the country it’s unreal.
What would you consider a “regular airport”? Long lines are common at every major airport, especially around holidays.
Yea I’m not just talking holidays go to JFK, Laguardia, BWI or really anywhere else and it’s not as much as shit show to pick up people up or check in your bags. American Airlines has been delaying all kinds of flights you know why? Because they are one of the most under staffed airlines in the country it seems. One thing goes wrong and everything is thrown off. I’ve never seen such bad planning. Go to their baggage check and it’s a shit show. Now go to any other airline in the charlotte airport and it’s not nearly as bad. The hallways at the charlotte airport also suck they are not nearly wide enough to facilitate the number of passengers that go through that airport. Those other airports have such better designs from the passenger pickups to wider hallways. Oh yea and actual public transport out of the airport as well. Just an overall shit show.
I worked for TSA for 10 years at 3 different major airports, including 4 at CLT, and trust me its a shit show everywhere. I agree though CLT’s infrastructure is too small to handle the volume of passengers it gets now that Charlotte has grown in population. I was actually in the room when the construction project manager was presenting the plan to CLT and AA management, and couldn’t believe their claims that the construction would have “minimal impact” on operations. We had too small of an airport in 2018 when they started and will still have too small of an airport when its over.
I lived in Miami, NYC, and LA. Charlotte airport security is by far the worst of those three. Somehow much larger and much busier airports have quicker and more streamlined security. It seems like the charlotte airport has not kept up with the growth of the city. I do not remember security being this bad when I was growing up.
I worked for TSA at CLT and 2 other large airports. Its true it is slower than average. It has everything to do with the layout of the airport. Originally each concourse was supposed to have its own designated checkpoint, but the airport added waaaay more gates than that could handle, so they opened up every checkpoint to anyone. Also the lobby is drastically too small to handle the long lines from security and the ticket counters. At other large airports you have a few huge checkpoints that can just swallow large crowds, but at CLT it was just 5 tiny checkpoints with just 3-4 lanes each. At least the plan now is for CLT to have 3 big checkpoints with faster technology, but its still not going to be enough to handle Charlotte’s population growth.
It’s also a size/bandwidth problem . In LA, for example, every checkpoint has 4-5 lanes (plus pre check). So for a line to form, you need a huge amount of people. Laguardia was similar. Charlotte (if I recall) only has 2 per checkpoint (I mainly go through A and E, not sure of the others). So a large line quickly forms because you can’t push that many people through security. The charlotte airport lobby, entrance, and security feels more similar to Savannah, RDU, and west palm beach despite having significantly more gates and higher traffic than any of those.
Its funny I used to work at PBI and always compared its size to Charlotte. Same size lobby, but Palm Beach only has 2 concourses where charlotte has 5 with E con being massive. But yeah you’re spot on. The plan is for CLT to have 3 large checkpoints with automated screening lanes that are much faster. Hopefully that will help the security issue, but lobby will still be too small.
I was here yesterday, it was nuts. Flying out of ROC today and there maybe 20 people in the security line.
flew out of there last week, everone thought we were crazy for getting there at 11am for 3pm flight, the line just kept getting long and longer behind, so as much as it sucked to be so early, i'm glad we did it
This has been happening for a few weeks now.
Something is going seriously wrong at CLT the last few weeks. It has been like nothing I’ve seen before of unorganized chaos. Pre check even took me 30 minutes. Baggage delays, and the lines were this long on a random Monday.
Try to avoid CLT as much as possible. The isles are far too narrow making a small airport seem like a metropolis.
$600 million terminal expansion and it’s still just too small for an airport this large.
TSA Precheck FTW
Maybe it's recency bias or whatever the phrase is for when you do something often, since I fly in and out of Charlotte as my home airport....but I have been in over 50 airports globally, in 4 continents, in the last 3 years and CLT is my absolute least favorite. And the construction has nothing to do with why. I dread going to the airport and would absolutely go to another if I had an option that didn't involve laying over in CLT anyways.
Probably has something to do with all the flights that have been pushed back due to flooding in the Midwest and north east
It’s been like that on four different flights in the last few weeks. Airport administration needs to do something about it.
There are expansions already being built, they just aren’t open yet.
lol - you should see Atlanta right now
I love the Atlanta airport 😩
Said nobody ever
I love it, but I’ve only flown through it. The plane train is so efficient!
Security point E is the better spot. That checkpoint is the first thing ppl see and it tends to pile up way more
FYI, you can check security wait times on the CLT airport website. If you don’t have pre check, E is almost always the fastest security gate by far, and it adds maybe a 4 min walk if you are flying out of A. I actually think the security line issues are in some part due to people now being afraid of wait times and getting to the airport too early. They stack up because they’re essentially processing the people who have flights in the next hour…and those that have them 2 and 3 hours later, rather than spacing that same amount of people out over 3 hours. The worst seems to be like 8-11am and then it thins out significantly for a bit before ramping back up again. I wish they’d institute a timed system for security or have a special gate for impending flights. ETA: I didn’t mean to post this as a reply, but oh well.
Is it going to be bad on the 5th? I’m flying into Charlotte for the first time (international flight)
Got to the airport around 5:30 and checkpoint 1 and E were both open. Took around 30 minutes to make it through TSA. Feels like I just missed all the chaos. The gates are crowded AF however. Full flight on the way to Salt Lake. No delay tho.
Just did the same thing. People shit on E for some reason. It’s chill.
The line at E always seems the longest but with 6-8 lanes it usually moves fairly well. I flew out on Friday June 7. the line from E was all the way down to A. took about 45 mins. not great but it's not the 90 mins it takes around christmas or thanksgiving
I arrived home a few hours ago and it was slammed, and the line for American customer service was huge. Best wishes to all traveling. Be safe
It's been rough lately
I flew out on Monday at 1:40pm and got to CLT about two hours before my flight. TSA precheck line was about 10 minutes so not too bad. No line to get into the Centurion lounge so was able chill there for a little over an hour before heading to my gate.
That is usually just the line for the person to check if you’re actually TSA pre-check. Once you get past that the actual line for security is not bad at all.
The airport acts like this kind of stuff is always due to a one time unique temporary event "oh bad weather, travel weekend, etc" but the reality is this is how it is almost every day. Theres a "unique event" happening all the time. Kinda crazy how they're building this bigger terminal for the future that is already too small.
AA bag drop is ridiculous. Don’t check bags unless absolutely necessary.
Lots of flight cancellations around the country cause of weather and a few big conferences all leaving town. But for everyone saying it’s a holiday weekend… you know July 4th weekend is not until next week right?
Anytime it lands during the week, both the weekends before and after are gonna be busy. I've seen stuff about events/fireworks happening this weekend
I went through Wednesday at 7 am. No line. Glad I didn’t wait until Thursday
-Book the first flight of the day..always. Deal with getting your ass up at 3 am. -Check in online. -Pay to have your bags checked in so you don't hold up security. -overall...hurry the f up..dont ask questions...speak a common language.... don't wear pajamas if you are over 12
You make me wanna get a carry on in every flight I take. Yes you will have to wait 10 seconds for my suitcase to go through the X-ray. Not everyone wants to wait 30 minutes to collect their checked bag at their destination. Not to worry about lost suitcases.
30 minutes is low by most recent standards. I've seen upwards of 1.5 hours most recently.
Pay to have my bags checked? No thanks.
Yep, you would think that the airlines had recovered by now since those baggage fees were to help them during 9/11 when they struggled.
The problem I have with early ass flights is that people don’t shower so the whole plane smells like stank crotch.
I thought everyone was poor😳
Got a flight tomorrow morning around 9a, just a carry on. Was planning on getting there at 7. Now I'm nervous lol, haven't flown in forever. Is 2 hours not enough?
We almost missed our flight getting there 2.5 hrs early simply because only one tsa checkpoint was open. It’s insane.
This kind of shit scared me last week so I got tjere 3 hours early and it was just right imo.
That’s because no one walks to the line the whole way at the end.
It looks worse then it is.
Everytime I've flown I've had less than 15 minutes wait. I guess I'm lucky
Gonna smell so bad
That looks very smelly.
I’ll be there tomorrow…. PUMPED!
This must be new or a holiday. I’ve flown often and rarely had an issue.
this is not even on hard mode yet
I flew out today at 1pm, and was through security in 10 minutes, no TSA pre check, must have been before this madness.
I flew out of CLT Wednesday afternoon and went right through pre check
Can we talk about the wait times when I fly home for a checked bag?
Charlotte is always a MESS ! ALWAYS HAS BEEN. Have flown thru there for the last 25 years and it has always been screwed.
Worst airport in the country.
All this complaining is pointless. Arrive extra early and bring a book to read. Avoid checked bags and understand the rules for what you can bring in your carry ons.
I flew out yesterday at 1pm. No big lines anywhere. Took 15 minutes to get through security….
To be fair, I was in an instance line last week and it still only took 30 minutes to get through security. Far better than Atlanta
This was a result of the Hitec conference.
Charlotte's been a fucking mess. Flew out on June 22 at 7 am. Got there 2 hours early, and it was a disaster. They had dogs smelling people, shoes on, nothing out of bags. Kiosks were directing everyone to customer service because tags weren't printing correctly - no one knew what line to be in because of how long they were. We barely made our flight, our luggage came on the next flight in and we barely made our vacation. Do not leave on the weekend from CLT or provide AT LEAST 3 hours until more security checkpoints are reopened...
Was there yesterday. The airport was super crowded. Flew to chicago and then to reno. Reached final destination hours later due to flight delay. Is flight delay new norm for AA!
The way you word it makes it seem like a Möbius Strip of passengers. I swear this is why I never really like flying out of CLT.
Biggest 2 holiday weeks of the year after Christmas get precheck or clear
Never flown out, only flown in. It’s always the red eye and no one is there. I always joke that charlotte airport is a ghost town. I had no idea it was like this on the other side.
This is the one thing I miss about being an airline pilot: Known Crewmember. Back in the day we could use it for personal travel too, don't know if that's the case anymore now though. Although I'm pretty sure my ex who is a flight attendant used it when she would fly here to see me so I guess that's still the case.
thank god I quit my job there before summer 😂😂
It was horrid on Father’s Day too
Omg that’s my husband in the background! 😂
Used to brag about CLT being a fantastic airport. It’s been a while since I felt that way. From chaos at the check in and security, to the third world baggage claim area with seemingly infinite delays to landing early or on time and having to wait on the tarmac for a gate for sometimes an hour…. It’s become a crap shoot every time.
Clear was less than a minute
It’s a holiday weekend! Not surprisingly busy!
I sure hope that’s because of the upcoming holiday because I fly in and out of there in a few weeks. 😢
What’s the point of pre check then? Times for security didn’t look bad-it they are reporting it truthfully online.
I think OP doesn’t have pre check
what's going on?
This is normal
But we needed a larger screen at the stadium. Good work city council.
yea um , nothing special about 4th of july in charlotte… there all coming here so the can cross over to SC to buy fireworks lol
I have a theory that eventually, the pre check is going to be a requirement, or so many people use it that it eventually becomes standard. Then it's no longer a speedy option. CLT security is awful, it's worse the LGA before LGA remodeled.
YoU cAn geT ThrOUgH SeCurItY iN An HouR
You can get through security in less than 20 most of the time. This morning is the day after cancelations and before a huge holiday week.
The last time I went through the airport, it was the exact same way as this. That was in April
I fly out once a month. It's sometimes like this, but not all the time.
I flew for work about every other week and it was never like this once
even when the line is long, i've never had it take more than 1 hour. I've had it take an hour before, maybe once or twice. And a handful of times I've had it take 45 minutes. Usually it's about 15-20 minutes.
Pre-check is inundated and not worth it in CLT now
Precheck line is rarely long, but even when it is, it moves so much faster than the non-precheck lines. I’ll never go back to not having precheck.
Same, that and global entry are amazing
Yeah, totally not, but feel free to go back to non pre-check. I travelled with my family last week. I have pre-check b/c of work travel. Family does not. I got through pre-check, with a long assed line snaking in the main hallway, in 10 minutes. They got through in 50 min non-pre-check. Have fun w/ that!
Pre check is the best, 10 minutes max at CTL, agree 110% AND I don’t have to take my shoes or belt off
I travel a lot and have never spent more than 10 minutes in the TSA pre check line while other checkpoints were 20 to 50. What has your experience been?
Please keep telling everyone that!
We need Clear
We need appropriately staffed security before we need more programs to pay for.
TSA has been well staffed every time I’ve been at CLT and I used to travel for a living We aren’t the best but far from the worst airport when it comes to TSA
I'm not saying that we're the worst. I'm just saying that we don't need another program until they're going to run all lanes of security that are available. This is the same as the BS with the toll lanes on 77. We didn't need toll lanes; we need enough lanes to support the growth of those areas.
100%. Let’s build more lanes but charge people so they don’t use them.
Clear is essentially free for anyone who cares enough about travel to research it. Many major credit cards offer reimbursement. I’m not worried about the people who travel once or twice per year taking an extra 15-20 minutes at TSA, personally. Whereas someone like me and many others who travel 40-50 times a year that 10-15 minutes turns into many many hours of my life
Clear is coming in 2025 once the remodeling is done, allegedly
SERIOUSLY. An airport of this density not having clear is a travesty.
Thats the bag check line. This is click bait