The Skies Are as Friendly as Ever:

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: "The Skies Are as Friendly as Ever: 9/11, Al Qaeda Obscure Statistics on Airline Safety
by Nate Silver @ 5:35 AM
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When your favorite air carrier tells you to arrive at the airport three hours before an international flight, they're not playing around. Flying home to New York from Montreal yesterday, it took me nearly three hours to proceed from the door at Trudeau Airport to my gate. In the interim I experienced:

-- A passport and credit-card swipe at the automated check-in machine;
-- Being routed back to the check-in line after I was told that there were no carry-on bags permitted except for laptop bags and purses;
-- A 75-minute wait at said check-in line, and then a 10-minute wait to get my checked baggage scanned;
-- Being routed back yet again to the check-in counter after a traveling companion was told he couldn't carry his laptop bag on board because it didn't actually contain a laptop;
-- An ID and boarding pass check after clearing everything up and finally being allowed to proceed to the metal detectors;
-- Another ID and boarding pass check upon exiting the metal detectors and heading to customs;
-- A passport and boarding pass check by the customs agent;
-- A boarding pass scan upon leaving customs;
-- A full pat-down and hand examination of my luggage upon exiting customs and entering the departure terminal, as is apparently now given to all US-bound customers."