Reagan National has three terminals - Terminal A is great, and I've found I'm at the gate in less than half-an hour, even when the commuter flights are filling up. Terminals B and C, though, I could live without.

The rest of the comments, of course, I agree with. I've had people flip my laptops over at Dulles. There's a shoe print on top of my tablet pc from the last time I flew, and I'm not sure how it got there. And yet, I don't feel any safer.

I frequently fly out of atlanta, the lines are always long, and they are almost always rude.
Since most of my travels are for business, and I have to bill for travel time, a 45 minute flight turns to 4 or 5 hours rather quickly. This is why I have turned to driving to my clients location if its fairly close.
I have had luggage searched, and items removed(stolen), had luggage lost several times, and rarely get a return flight that arrives on time.

Also, my wife routinely gets her plane tickets over the internet. She claims that when she isn't allowed to print her ticket at home are the times when she will be pulled aside for extra screening. Have others had a similar experience?

Future TSA employees: please proceed to fourth floor for self check-in.

Just out of curiosity: did your hotel actually have a fourth floor? ;-)

Weird - I fly out of National at least once a month and only had long lines once in the last 1.5 years. Every other time the lines are about the shortest anywhere.

B: I do that, too. But most people in the airport at any given time are infrequent fliers who don't know how to play the game.

As the nation concentrates on what is quickly appearing to be the non-story of the takeover of port management, not security, by a company owned by Arabs, Peggy Noonan relates the story of her recent trip to and from Florida and wonders why nobod ........

Future TSA employees: please proceed to fourth floor for self check-in.

So THEY get to do self check-in, eh? ;)

The best way to get through fast is to have all your extra clothes off and ready to go through the X-ray machine before you get to said machine. I usually have everything in my in flight bag, and I add my shoes, keys, wallet, etc. If you don't buzz going through, chances are you'll get through quick.

Not the most convient, but sure beats everyone behind me waiting as I pull things out of my bag, take off my shoes, all while I'm next for the metal detector and am holding everyone else up.

Heathrow tends to be pretty easy, except for flights to/from the Middle East. There are extra layers of security for those flights.

Within Saudi Arabia, there's basic screening, though the magnetometer settings are so low that more than a few dental fillings will set them off. But flying out of the KSA, it's a matter of all hand baggage being thoroughly searched and every passenger being frisked, not just wanded.

The worst TSA I've had, though, was in Philadelphia. Excessive, even aggressive inspection and far too much attitude to suit me.

There are triggers that will line you up for Secondary Security Screening, even if you fit no profile. My former Diplomatic passport, apparently, was one of those triggers. I never had a flight that didn't get me super-screened.