You get the jist, you arrive at the airport and check in, say goodbye to your loved ones or the people who you’ve tricked into getting a lift there and the first thing you do when you get to the “passenger’s only” side of the airport is queue up in an airport security line.
Nowadays, security is the number one priority at airports and quite rightly so. Those terrorists ruin it for everyone. You can’t avoid those security lines but why don’t you get through them like the expert that you ought to be. So, here are a few tips to help save you time and get you to the head of the line quickly.
First things first, empty your pockets! Get one of those little grey trays and stick everything you have in your pockets into them. Wallet, cellphone, ipod, bling, more bling… you get the idea. If you don’t like putting your multi-million dollar bling into a grey tray, then think ahead of time and put it in your carry-on luggage.
Before you start queuing put those face creams, contact lens solutions and other liquids, creams and gels in a one litre plastic bag. You also have to take them out of your carry-on luggage and, you guessed it, put them into one of the grey trays. Each bottle of liquid needs to be 100 ml or less and they all need to fit into that plastic bag. If you have medical liquids or baby food you can usually take those onboard if you tell the guard about it.
When putting things onto the belt, it’s a good idea to have a plan. By putting stuff through the x-ray machine in a certain order, you will be able to put everything back together much quicker afterwards. Here’s a good way to do this:
1. Put your coat and carry-on “personal items” in the first tray. Since they’ll come through first, so you can put your coat, jewelry and bling on while your other belongings is being scanned.
2. If you have a notebook computer, put its bag through first. You can then have it ready to slide your computer into it once it comes through.
3. If putting everything back into your bag is going to take you a while, gather it all up and then move to the side so that the queue doesn’t start to bottleneck because of you.
Half of all jammed up queues at airport security are caused by people putting themselves or their belongings back together after screening.
Now that you’re armed with these tips, the next time you travel and you’ll whizz through security and have more time to spend your hard earned cash in the airport shops! Happy travelling!
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