Mar 2012 - Flight to Tel Aviv - Part 1

Before I knew it, it was March and we were heading to Newark International Airport so I could see my grandparents in Israel.  

My first long flight was scheduled to depart at 3:52PM so we left our apartment at 12:30PM and got to the airport around 1:30PM (over 3 hours before!).  If this were a regular international flight, we'd have plenty of time, but this was no regular international flight, this was a flight to Israel where the working assumption is that everyone is trying to destroy them.

We were flying on United so we were dropped off at Terminal C.  With my parents having United elite status, we drove to the Elite Check In on Level 2 instead of the regular check in area on Level 3.  There was still a line but it was much shorter than the regular one upstairs.  Note: even if you did not have any checked luggage, you'd still have to wait in line to get your boarding pass.  Flights to Israel don't let you print your boarding pass from home (refer to the "everyone is trying to destroy them" comment above).

After check in, we head to the normal TSA checkpoint  where my mother was able to showcase her improved Security Line Skills that my father had her practice at home for the past few months.  Laptop out, shoes off, liquids in a bag, boarding pass with your passport already opened to your picture page ... you get the idea.

A few things I learned that you should know if you're traveling with a baby:

1. Parents with a baby can bring water / liquids for formula.
2. Baby food in jars are allowed but get a special extra screening.
3. Strollers go through the x-ray machine,,, babies do not.
4. Babies need to remove their shoes too.  
5. Babies carried through in a baby bjorn require the parent to be swabbed for any chemicals.

After this painful ordeal, I thought we were done with security.  But since this was my father's 7th time to Israel, he knew better.  With a departure time of 3:52PM, a normal flight would start boarding 30-45 minutes before, but for Israel, you needed to be at the gate 75-90 minutes before departure. 

Why is that?  Because there's a secondary security screening to get to the final gate.  We were flying out of Gate 138 at the very end of the Terminal C3.  Right before you reach the gate, they have a special barrier with another security check point.  And another line.  And a lot of Hasidics.  And some pretty strong body odor.

There's no body scanner, but they do ask you to open your bags so they can search inside manually like a hipster searching for their favorite pair of chunky glasses.  I told my mother to leave one of my dirty diapers in there to surprise them, but she declined.