Jadm

Hi all....my UK spouse recently asked his 60ish yr old father in the Uk to fly over
for 1 week here to USA for a holiday...not suprisingly the man refused, due to all
the "goings on" since Sept. 11th ....am wondering about you who have flown recently
from that part of the world to here, could you give us some insight as to your
experiences. He would have flown out of Gatwick.

regards*

Andy Platt

A little more security. In particular you had to go through a metal detector at the
gate area and they were doing some spot checks on bags there too. Secondary
inspection was much busier than normal but one of the INS guys said they had had 18
planes land very close together so things had got backlogged.

Other than that, things were normal. Now is definitely the time to fly. If we hadn't
had Caroline this year Deana & I would be going everywhere taking advantage of cheap
fares and empty planes!!!

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

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Simon Jessey

<Hi all....my UK spouse recently asked his 60ish yr old father in the Uk to fly over
for 1 week here to USA for a holiday...not suprisingly the man refused, due to all
the "goings on" since Sept. 11th ....am wondering about you who have flown recently
from that part of the world to here, could you give us some insight as to your
experiences. He would have flown out of Gatwick.>

I flew into Philadelphia from London Heathrow 10 days ago and had no problems
whatsoever. Previously, I had left Philadelphia for London on the day the bombing
started in Kabul and there was an increase of security that meant a 2 hour wait, but
even that was no big deal.

As a personal preference, I would fly with a British carrier, but I am sure that is
not really a problem either.

Simon, UK http://members.aol.com/scjessey/

Synchro1212

My fiance and his son just flew to the US 2 weeks ago. The flight went very well.
They flew out of London Gatwick also. They stayed 10 days and returned with no
problems. I will be going over soon. There is so much security, it is probably safer
to fly now than it ever has been Good Luck

BrokenWings

I'm flying to Chicago from Australia in 15 days time and I'm past the nervousness of it all. Everything seems to be running smoothy. And besides, you can't put your life on hold for something that has happened. Go out and enjoy yourself.

Fogmyst

I flew out in early October to Minniapolis from Gatwick on my way to Regina, I flew Northwest, and got to the airport 4 hours before departure, this ensured a stress free check in with no queueing, security, seemed quite tight, they checked my suitcase and ask questions, then off through to the departure lounge, for a bit of shopping and relaxing. I like Gatwick and would always try and engineer my flight to leave from it. I will be flying out again in December and looking forward to it. I think the message here is go and see your relatives, have a good time. It seems sad to miss out on the opportunity to travel and visit other cultures and family. Have a good time.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

We did LAX - HRW - LAX in September. Security in departing LAX was a bitch and I don't want to talk about it [it was 100 degrees that day -- security checks caused delays and then BA boarded the people on the plane without informing them the on-ground AC wasn't working on the plane].

Entry into HRW was painless although 21 year old daughter was questioned extensively to make sure she wasn't going to become an illegal alien.

Departure from HRW was much less painful that LAX -- in fact it was pretty painless except that a passenger in first class had to be taken off for medical emergency which mean off-loading HIS luggage which took 45 minutes. HRW was not 100 degrees and the plane's AC worked].

Entry into LAX was relatively painless other than the usual delay in off-loading a loaded 747. Do note I was inspected as a US citizen.

All in all, the only real bitch was boarding in LAX.

scrubbedexpat099

I am surprised, not aware of ny reduction in UK air travel, quite the contrary, my Mum has been over twice this year, Heathrow, and 'security' was never even mentioned as an issue.

My Aunt and Uncle came with her last time.

They are of a older age group.

The dangerous bit is getting to the airport, perhaps he just did not want to come?

inquisitive40

Is a long time since I have flown from Europe BUT the last time I flew out of Ireland (4 yrs ago) they were using metal detectors then and also X-raying luggage. That was the biggest culture shock in travelling in the US pre-9/11 , people allowed up to the gate, in Ireland and many other European countries there was always a check before you went to the departure lounge and only ticket holders were allowed there after they did their security checks.

Was always pretty painless, post 9/11 they pretty much have the same rules here in the US BUT the delays are just terrible, the airports here were never built with security in mind at the boarding gates and so everything gets bogged down REAL quick.

Patrick

HunterGreen

Don't be, the thread was started in October 2001....

Elaine

Jan Alaska

My mother is the same way, but my kids now 14 and 13 travel over here each summer and winter for vacation and have had no problems at all, they fly either Glasgow - Chicago or London - Detroit and I cant say we've had any problems at all (apart from the extrotionate fares)
Jan

inquisitive40

DUH!! Never noticed that original posting date, so my flying dates were close enought then
Patrick

Truth

I've flown many times to the US and elsewhere since Sept 11th...flown back and forth between the US three times alone this year, entering via Chicago and New York. Security is tighter - twice I've been thoroughly searched, hang luggage has been vigorously inspected, etc. Metal Detectors and all that stuff are commonplace, as are passport and paperwork inspections.

Like someone already said, now is the time to fly...cheap flights, empty planes!

Gigiola

My first flight to US was booked for 9/13 and was, obviously, cancelled. I flew a week later.

Since then I've flown out of Madrid and Manchester various times.

There is more security and the more there is, the better I feel. The most efficient I've seen was Indianapolis and not one of the larger airports!

My 83 year old mum has talked about coming over. If she doesn't it won't be the security that worries her, but the long flight. We've talked about the possibility of Gatwick -> Cincinnati to avoid connecting flights.

Scout

What in the hell possessed you to bring up a 3 year old thread?