A few days ago I blogged about how to get through airport security. Earlier this week I learned another good trick: ask to go through the explosive detector lane. There’s no line there.
Monday morning I arrived at the Denver airport twenty minutes before my flight was supposed to board and discovered that the security lines were wound around all the way out of all the available space and starting to curl back towards baggage claim! (The problem was spring break …) I got in the frequent flier line and made good time and then I got the best piece of advice from the woman behind me in line. She told me to ask to go through the explosives test line. So after I got to the point where they check your ID, I asked if I could go through the explosives check line, was told “sure” and there was no wait! You go through security just the same way but you have to hold your boarding pass in your hand and you leave your shoes on until after you’ve gone through the explosive machine. You stand in this machine, it blows air all over you and then you wait about 30 seconds. When the light turns green, you step out, take your shoes off, put them through the Xray machine, step through the metal detector and show your boarding pass to the inspection agent. I got through security, including the long line, in 20 minutes!
When I got to the concourse I joined the millions of people running down the concourse. My flight was sold out and they had taken two volunteers but they had saved a seat for me!